The danger of underload?: Effort management in the driving simulation

Particularly at long distance trips a second task of the driver has to be considered besides the major task of vehicle guidance - effort management. Only by adjusting ones level of activation to the current situation it is possible to maintain optimal performance over a longer period of time. Modern Driver Assistance Systems, which are supposed to exonerate the driver, interact with the driver's state by changing the task characteristic. How drivers regulate their state and how this is influenced by driver assistance systems is the main topic of this article, Three studies are reported, which examined the compensational strategies of drivers in low workload situations as well as the effects of different strategies of assistance systems on the driver state.