Evaluation of Semi-Autonomous Convoy Driving

Autonomous mobility technologies may have applications to manned vehicle convoy operations-they have the ability to enhance both system performance and operator capability. This effort examines the potential impact of introducing semi-autonomous mobility [Convoy Active Safety Technologies (CAST)] into manned vehicles. Twelve civilians with experience driving military vehicles in convoy-type operations participated in this experiment. For the experiment, they were tasked with following a lead vehicle while completing a concurrent security task (scanning the local environment for targets). The control of the manned vehicle was varied between CAST and manual control at several different speed levels. Several objective speed and accuracy variables along with subjective operator assessment variables were examined for each task. The results support the potential benefits of incorporating semi-autonomous mobility technologies into manned vehicle convoy operations. The semi-autonomous mobility system was associated with significantly better performance in several aspects of operator situational awareness and convoy integrity, including enhanced target identification, improved maintenance of following distance, and improved performance for unanticipated stops. This experiment also highlighted a critical human factors issue associated with the incorporation Of autonomy in real-world applications: participants felt that, overall, they outperformed the semi-autonomous system on the simulated convoy operation. The operator's perception of the system's performance could potentially affect his or her willingness to use the system in real-world applications. This experiment demonstrated that enhancements to overall system performance in real-world applications are achieved by considering both technological and human factors solutions. Published 2008 Wiley Periodicals, lnc.*