SWOV's new report titled "Better Safe Than Sorry: Human Driving Strategies and the Coming of Automated Vehicles" highlights the importance of understanding human driving behaviour as we prepare for the arrival of fully automated vehicles (AVs).
While human error is often seen as the cause for road crashes, human drivers also play a crucial role in maintaining a traffic system that is relatively safe. This report emphasises that automation will not only eliminate human error but also replace the beneficial human behaviour that enhances road safety. To ensure the safe integration of AVs, it is therefore essential to understand the differences between human and automated driving behaviours and discover how AVs can mimic or replace essential human driver strategies. To that end, SWOV-researchers Dr Diane Cleij, Rins de Zwart MSc, Dr Maartje de Goede and Dr Canmanie Ponnambalam have created an overview of human driving behaviour including a new taxonomy of social safe driving strategies.
The taxonomy contains six classes: 1) driving culture induced driving style adjustment, 2) anticipatory planning, 3) anticipatory driving style adjustment, 4) event-based anticipation, 5) event realisation and 6) event processing. The report provides examples of human driving behaviour in each of these classes and identifies how the behaviour of automated vehicles diverges from it. For example, human drivers may switch lanes to the left to accommodate upcoming traffic trying to merge onto the highway. Automated vehicles instead, have been observed doing the opposite and close such gaps left by other road users.
This overview aims to facilitate communication and understanding of the critical aspects of human and automated driving behaviours, paving the way for a safer future with AVs. The authors encourage other researchers to build upon the presented taxonomy and continue developing an understanding of the strategies humans use to maintain a relatively safe traffic environment, and of the impact of AVs on these strategies, and finally of the potential benefits of these strategies for AV development.
