Understanding and modelling of motion sickness and its individual differences for the comfortable control of automated vehicles

By 2050 a large proportion of the cars on our roads will be self-driving and completely automated. We will no longer be driving these vehicles, but will be transported comfortably as passengers. We will be able to indulge in all sorts of media items in our vehicles, do work, or even just relax and sleep. Indeed, these fully automated vehicles...

Development and evaluation of a motorcycle riding simulator for low speed maneuvering

Driving simulators have been extensively used over the last decades and technological advancements have propelled their development for cars, trucks and other vehicles with four (or more) wheels. This dissertation focuses on the use of driving simulators for two wheeled vehicles and in particular on the development and evaluation of a motorcycle...

On-road Assessment of Driver Workload and Awareness in Automated Vehicles

Problem Definition According to the World Health Organization, traffic injuries have become the eighth cause of death and the leading cause among children and young adults. Human error, and in particular perceptual error, is among the most frequently reported causes of road fatalities. The desire to reduce traffic fatalities has led to the...

Deep learning for perception tasks

In recent years large advances have been made in the field of machine learning, driven by novel deep learning methods. Deep learning is a research field that focusses on creating neural networks. This field has seen a rapid advance due to an increase in computational power, availability of large amounts of data and a wide variety of novel...

Wheel Load Reconstruction for Intelligent Vehicle Control

After decades of incremental change in the automotive industry, we now face an era of disruption as environmental concerns and social change propel the introduction of electric vehicles and vehicle automation. Besides the clear benefit of zero-emission transport for society, there is a strong commercial incentive for automated driving, as it will...

An experimental approach into the quantification of steering and balance behaviour of bicyclists

The aim of this thesis is to derive bicycle rider control models, based on experimental data, that mimic the rider in his balance control task at various forward speeds. These rider control models can help to understand cyclists falls, improve training techniques, assess the handling properties of new bicycle designs and create active balance...

Modelling Safety Impacts of Automated Driving Systems in Multi-Lane Traffic

The past three decades have witnessed the emergence of several automotive applications that take over the task of vehicle driving on a sustained basis. The most advanced class of such applications is known as Automated Driving Systems (ADSs). ADS can autonomously operate the vehicle on road stretches that fall under its operational design domain...

Human Factors of Transitions in Automated Driving

In the last decades, advanced driver-assistance systems have contributed to improved road safety. With the recent advance of technology, automotive automation is taking more and more tasks away from the driver. Although automation removes human imprecision and variability, it also introduces out-of-the-loop problems such as complacency, skill...

User Acceptance of Automated Vehicles in Public Transport

The acceptance of automated vehicles is a necessary condition for realizing the benefits of road vehicle automation. The objective of the thesis was to examine the acceptance of automated vehicles feeding public transport. The thesis investigated the factors contributing to user acceptance, as well as the interrelations of those factors. It was...

Human factors of monitoring driving automation: Eyes and Scenes

This PhD thesis document is a collection of several of my published (and submitted) peer review journal articles from underneath the Human Factors of Automated Driving (HF Auto, PITN-GA-2013-605817) seventh framework program (FP7) of the European Commission. The topics include: human factors, automotive road safety, autonomous/automated driving...

Eye movements in manual driving

Driving simulators provide researchers with a flexible, controllable, safe, and economical tool for a range of applications. A pivotal aspect in the application of driving simulators is the development of measures aimed at describing the behavior and performance of the driver and providing knowledge about the way drivers are controlling their...

HEADS UP: Sensorimotor control of the head-neck system

Head-neck stabilization is inherently challenging even when stationary, requiring constant vigilance to counter the downward pull of gravity. It involves a highly complex biomechanical system comprised of a large mass (the head) balanced on top of seven vertebrae (the neck), that are in turn connected to a moving base (the torso). This multi...