Driver support and automated driving systems: Acceptance and effects on behavior

Automation in driving ranges from simple in-vehicle information systems to completely automated driving in the Automated Highway System (AHS). An increased level of automation and increased restriction in behavioural freedom, as well as decreased control over tasks, have serious consequences for driver behaviour, and for driver acceptance of these systems. In the Netherlands, on-the-road and simulator studies have been performed with law-compliance tutoring-systems and automated driving. These studies show that a behavioural adaptation to these systems should be expected. For example, tutoring systems are effective in terms of increasing law-abiding behaviour, but may also increase driver mental workload. As important are serious problems in driver acceptance that can be expected if tutoring and automated driving systems are perceived as interventionist systems. A tutoring system that continuously provides drivers with in-vehicle feedback about posted speed limits, however, is not refuted. In general, acceptance increases as soon as drivers look upon these systems as support systems. One of the risks of those new systems is complacency, overreliance of the driver on the system. It was found, e.g., that elderly drivers are inclined to trust the tutoring system to inform them about current speed limits. Similarly, in an emergency situation caused by a failing automated driving system, most drivers did not reclaim control