Risk scenario designs for driving simulator experiments

Abstract

Driving simulators have become widely used tools for examining the impact of driver behaviour with respect to individual driver differences or road layout by offering a safe, realistic, and controlled environment. In this research, a driving simulator experimental design is provided for testing the main risk factors defined within the i-DREAMS project. The overall objective is a detailed description of the risk scenarios for car drivers which were designed for three risk factors [i.e., tailgating, illegal overtaking, collisions with vulnerable road users (VRUs)] and two additional conditions [i.e., driver distraction and adverse weather conditions]. Accordingly, three different scenarios were designed: 1) drive-1: monitoring scenario with no intervention, 2) drive-2: scenario with driver-state independent intervention, 3) drive-3: scenario with driverstate dependent intervention. Proposed real-time interventions aim to investigate dynamic thresholds (variable-timing thresholds) that can be adapted based on scenario conditions (distraction, weather). Developed scenarios will be tested to assess the performance of the i-DREAMS system in developing a safety tolerance zone for monitoring and intervention.