Search

Highly automated vehicles in urban areas will adopt a safe and cautious driving style, which is likely to result in frequent stops and yields while negotiating interactions in complex traffic environments. Users may not expect, comprehend or accept such behaviors from their vehicle. Considering that most daily trips are completed under time pressure, drivers may feel frustrated and decide to take over manual control in an attempt to save time. The current study aimed at investigating the impact of time pressure while driving a highly automated vehicle in urban areas in terms of anger and frustration. Forty participants drove a highly automated vehicle with or without time pressure in a driving simulator. The driving scenario included rural roads with light traffic and urban roads with traffic congestion and driving impediments. Data on mood, attitude and driver behavior were collected. Results indicate that urban automated driving in congested conditions deteriorated participants’ mood, independently of time pressure. Additionally, the number of takeovers on driver’s initiative was higher under time pressure. This study demonstrates that driving a highly automated vehicle in urban areas may have adverse effects for user’s emotional state. As long as drivers are uncomfortable with the vehicle behavior, they may decide to takeover in complex situations. Therefore, it is important to consider the emotional dimension of driving highly automated vehicles. Otherwise, expected benefits of automation for traffic congestion and safety may be compromised.

Driver internal state, including emotion, can have negative impacts on road safety. Studies have shown that an anger state can provoke aggressive behavior and impair driving performance. Apart from driving, anger can also influence attentional processing and increase the benefits taken from auditory alerts. However, to our knowledge, no prior event-related potentials study assesses this impact on attention during simulated driving. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of anger on attentional processing and its consequences on driving performance. For this purpose, 33 participants completed a simulated driving scenario once in an anger state and once during a control session. Results indicated that anger impacted driving performance and attention, provoking an increase in lateral variations while reducing the amplitude of the visual N1 peak. The observed effects were discussed as a result of high arousal and mind-wandering associated with anger. This kind of physiological data may be used to monitor a driver's internal state and provide specific assistance corresponding to their current needs.; Impact de la colère sur les potentiels évoqués durant une tâche de conduite

Anger is a negative and highly aroused emotion. Previous research has revealed that a high level of arousal can induce the participant in a physical preparation and self-awareness. The aim of this research was to study the influence of anger on the attentional network using the Attention Network Test– Interactions (ANT-I). This test has been developed in order to assess 3 attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. Here, participants were induced in anger using the autobiographic recall procedure or in a neutral mood before the realization of the ANT-I. As expected, the results showed a better alerting score for the angry group. The possible origin of this alerting gain related to the high level of arousal is discussed. The results obtained should enlighten the interaction between emotion and the functioning of the attentional system. They also may be relevant for applied fields related to anger.