Evaluation of Driver Reaction to Disengagement of Advanced Driver Assistance System with Different Warning Systems While Driving Under Various Distractions

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) as a growing technology are expected to improve drivers' performance by carrying out some of the drivers' tasks and utilizing driver monitoring and warning systems to maintain their awareness. In this study, drivers' reactions to the disengagement of ADAS and the effectiveness of steering wheel and face tracking warning systems were evaluated using driving simulation. The study was designed as a mixed design experiment to compare the effects of different types of driver monitoring and warning systems on driver response time, when drivers were driving under audio-, visual-, or no distraction. Data from 60 drivers were collected from the driving simulator experiments. In all experimental scenarios, the participant started driving on a long, straight highway segment and activated an ADAS, which was disengaged at the 11th min into the experiment without the driver's knowledge. The driver's response to the disengagement was collected and analyzed. A two-way mixed analysis of variance showed that the warning systems and distractions together affected drivers' response times significantly. Moreover, post hoc test results showed that under the no distraction condition, the mean response time was lower when the face tracker alert was in use compared with no alert, and the response time was significantly lower when drivers were under audio distraction compared with visual or no distraction.