Subjective Contribution of Vibrotactile Modality in Addition to or Instead of Auditory Modality for Takeover Notification in an Autonomous Vehicle

摘要

In future autonomous vehicles, drivers will be allowed to do anything else but driving. However, those autonomous cars may call the driver back to driving if all requirements for autonomous navigation are not met. Therefore, a call back sequence must be designed. The call back sequence must be efficient, as well as satisfying, in order not to annihilate the benefit of autonomous driving. Recent studies show the interest of using tactile channel for in-vehicle interfaces. In this study, we investigate the subjective contribution of vibrotactile signal instead or in addition to auditory modality for takeover sequences in an autonomous vehicle. We conducted a simulator survey on 41 subjects. The participants had to score their satisfaction and to evaluate the efficiency and some hedonic aspects of the sequence. According to the results, we recommend a multimodal signal for the takeover sequences in an autonomous vehicle. This must be confirmed with an evaluation of objective efficiency of the signal.