Assisting drivers’ merging onto the motorway: Evaluation of a new advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) using multi-driver simulation

摘要

The paper analyses the potential of a new ADAS called merging assistant. By using themethod of a multi-driver simulation the effects of a merging assistant on drivers’ interactionsand emotional response are measured. In order to answer this research objective, the subjectsare located in different vehicles and evaluate merging situations from two differentperspectives: driving on the merging lane vs. driving on the through lane of a motorway. Theresults show that a measure based on time-to-collision (called TTC-difference) is a suitableparameter that guides drivers’ evaluation of merging situations. It is shown that subjects whoare already on the motorway are less likely to evaluate the gap in front of them as appropriatecompared to subjects who want to merge from the slip road onto the motorway. The subjects’perspective influences the gap evaluation, with own intentions leading to egoistic evaluations.A merging assistant reduces the anger felt by the driver on the merging lane and leads tolater merging. As headways show that safety is not negatively influenced by the mergingassistant, such an ADAS based on car-to-car communication technology has the potential toreduce conflicts as well as drivers’ workload during merging interactions.