Human Turning Behavior and Hand Dominance in Hands-Free Driving
Disciplines
Cognitive Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
We conducted a virtual reality driving simulator study to explore whether individuals monitoring the self-driving maneuvers of an autonomous vehicle (AV) are more likely to steer towards the left or the right when faced with a potential crash at a T-shaped intersection. T-intersection crash scenarios introduce a degree of directional ambiguity and freedom of choice that is often lacking in AV crash avoidance studies. As another condition of this experiment drivers were not allowed to touch the steering wheel unless they believed the AV was about to crash. Prior studies examining potential correlates of human turning behavior suggest that hand dominance and driving side are both strongly related to turning behavior and sometimes work against each other. In accordance with such studies, we hypothesized that right-handed drivers would reliably steer in the direction of their dominant hand but that left-handed drivers would not show a strong preference for either direction. We are currently collecting the data.
Keywords: automated vehicles, take-over performance, silent failure, turning behavior, dominant hand, intersection, crash avoidance
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Kyung Hun Jung, PhD.
Human Turning Behavior and Hand Dominance in Hands-Free Driving
We conducted a virtual reality driving simulator study to explore whether individuals monitoring the self-driving maneuvers of an autonomous vehicle (AV) are more likely to steer towards the left or the right when faced with a potential crash at a T-shaped intersection. T-intersection crash scenarios introduce a degree of directional ambiguity and freedom of choice that is often lacking in AV crash avoidance studies. As another condition of this experiment drivers were not allowed to touch the steering wheel unless they believed the AV was about to crash. Prior studies examining potential correlates of human turning behavior suggest that hand dominance and driving side are both strongly related to turning behavior and sometimes work against each other. In accordance with such studies, we hypothesized that right-handed drivers would reliably steer in the direction of their dominant hand but that left-handed drivers would not show a strong preference for either direction. We are currently collecting the data.
Keywords: automated vehicles, take-over performance, silent failure, turning behavior, dominant hand, intersection, crash avoidance