Safe interaction with several levels of automation in vehicles

The aim of this project is to investigate different means to harmonize, simplify, manage and improve the interaction design of technical systems that operate at different levels of automation, often in the same vehicle, in different situations. In particular, mode understanding and mode confusion will be addressed. The goal is twofold: to develop and evaluate different concepts which support the interaction between driver and vehicle in a multimodal way and to develop design requirements based on theoretical and empirical data achieved in the project. 

In addition to the already available support systems in cars and trucks, new systems, or software modifications of existing systems, are frequently being introduced. The HARMONISE project addresses the challenges that emerge due to the incremental increase of automated driver support systems that gradually change the role of the driver over time. The challenges of mode understanding and mode confusion will be a particular focus during the project.

The project will develop and evaluate different concepts, which support the interaction between driver and vehicle in a multi-modal way and develop design requirements based on theoretical and empirical data collected in the project. The work will be theoretically grounded in recent advances within the distributed and embodied cognition approach to understand human action.