Who is driving? : a study into mode confusion

Mode confusion refers to uncertainty and misconceptions regarding who has what control over the driving task at any given moment. The driver or the vehicle? Confusion about who is performing which driving tasks, is a safety concern in the light of the increasing numbers of vehicle systems that support or even take-over the driving task, while the driver has to remain alert in case of a system failure or (upcoming) system deactivation. In addition to the technical system performance, the quality of the interaction between the driver and the system is important for road safety. However, type approval does not seriously take into account the quality of the driver-system interaction yet, which is considered an important goal for the near future. Evaluating the quality of the interaction requires the development of measurement methods, based on conceptual as well as practical knowledge on the concepts which define the interaction between the driver and the vehicle. In the light of this challenge the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management assigned this project to SWOV, with the following objectives:

1. Investigating the concept of mode confusion, its consequences, causes and solutions, in the literature.
2. Identify causes of and solutions for mode confusion in practice.
3. To design and test a method (proof of concept) to measure mode confusion.