The PROSPER (Project for Research On Speed adaptation Policies on European Roads) project, funded by the European Commission within the 5th framework program, was initiated to find answers concerning efficiency, public support, and implementation of road speed management methods, particularly Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) in Europe. A part of the PROSPER project was to examine the effect of Human Machine Interaction (HMI) design for ISA could on driving behaviour and acceptance. Therefore, sixty-four experienced drivers participated in two experiments (32 each), in a moving-base research driving simulator. During the simulated runs with ISA, the speed limit was communicated through the ISA system. The ISA system consisted of an indication of the speed limit on the speedometer, and a gas pedal that could either be used as a haptic or tactile pedal, or as a dead throttle. Two versions of the haptic gas pedal were examined in experiment (a): a low-force ISA (easy to overrule, informative in nature) and a high-force ISA (stronger counter force, more compulsory in nature). Two other configurations were tested in experiment (b): a tactile pedal (a vibration on the gas pedal, informative in nature) and a dead throttle (completely restraining the driver from exceeding the speed limit). It was hypothesised that the closer to an informative type of ISA, the higher acceptance and the smaller the effects on driving behaviour would be. This hypothesis appeared to be valid, although for both driving behaviour and acceptance, not all four HMIs could be ranked unambiguously on the scale from no ISA to full ISA. In sharp curves, drivers appeared to chose a driving speed below the speed limit, irrespective of ISA. The specific road environment scenarios that were inserted to examine presupposed compensatory behaviour for experienced delay, indicated no signs of compensatory driving behaviour. Finally, it is concluded that the most promising sustainable and safety-improving approach in the future is the use of intelligent electronic systems such as ISA combined and integrated in the whole design of the road traffic system consisting of both the geometric design and dynamic traffic management. For the covering abstract see ITRD E136183.
Samenvatting