Experimental Setup for Assessing Drivers’ Experiences of Reclined Sitting Posture in Automated Vehicles

Book chapter, 2022

Highly automated vehicles are opening new opportunities for alternative sitting postures, such as the reclined posture, when drivers disengage from conventional driving tasks. This paper presents an experimental setup to assess drivers’ experiences of the reclined sitting posture and the human machine interfaces (HMI) for transitions between upright and reclined modes, and between manual and automated driving modes. The method used to develop the setup consisted of identifying the necessary equipment for developing the experimental setup, defining the preparation and execution of the experimental setup, and collecting and analysing feedback from eight human factors experts. The experimental setup consisted of four steps: practicalities, preparations, execution, and data collection methods. Also, six aspects must be considered when assessing user experiences in a dynamic test: (1) recruiting appropriate participants, (2) providing consistent tasks, (3) providing adequate time constraints, (4) avoiding social influences, (5) utilising appropriate data collections methods, (6) and carrying out a pilot study.