Situational Awareness, Driver’s Trust in Automated Driving Systems and Secondary Task Performance

Driver assistance systems, also called automated driving systems, allow drivers to immerse themselves in non-driving-related tasks. Unfortunately, drivers may not trust the automated driving system, which prevents either handing over the driving task or fully focusing on the secondary task. We assert that enhancing situational awareness (SA) can increase a driver’s trust in automation. SA should increase a driver’s trust and lead to better secondary task performance. This study manipulated drivers’ SA by providing them with different types of information: the control condition provided no information to the driver, the low condition provided a status update, while the high condition provided a status update and a suggested course of action. Data collected included measures of trust, trusting behavior, and task performance through surveys, eye-tracking, and heart rate data. Results show that SA both promoted and moderated the impact of trust in the automated vehicle (AV), leading to better secondary task performance. This result was evident in measures of self-reported trust and trusting behavior.