Byrne, Michael2021-05-032021-05-032021-052021-04-27May 2021Pandey, Shivam. "Buzz Buzz: Haptic Cuing of Road Conditions in Autonomous Cars for Drivers Engaged in Secondary Tasks." (2021) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/110414">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/110414</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/110414Can drivers’ situation awareness during automated driving be maintained using haptic cues which provide information about road and traffic scenarios while the drivers are engaged in a secondary task and without disengaging them from the secondary task? Multiple Resource Theory predicts that using different sensory channels can improve multiple-task performance. Using haptics to provide information avoids the audio-visual channels likely occupied by the secondary task. Drivers played Fruit Ninja as the secondary task while seated in a driving simulator with a Level 4 autonomous system driving. A mixed design was used for the experiment with the presence of haptic cues and the presentation time of situation awareness questions as the between-subjects conditions. Five road and traffic scenarios comprised the within-subjects part of the design. Subjects who received haptic cues had a higher number of correct responses to the situation awareness questions and looked up at the simulator screen fewer times than those who were not provided cues. Subjects did not find the cues to be disruptive and gave good satisfaction scores to the haptic device. Additionally, subjects across all conditions seemed to have performed equally well in playing Fruit Ninja. It appears that haptic cuing can maintain drivers’ situation awareness during automated driving while drivers are engaged in a secondary task. Practical implications of these findings for implementing haptic cues in autonomous vehicles are also discussed.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.situation awarenessautonomous drivingself-drivingautomation deficithapticshaptic cuingmultitasking self-driving vehicleThesis2021-05-03