Novel Tactile Feedback Research for Situation Awareness in Autonomous Vehicles

During the period when a driver takes over driving in an autonomous vehicle, non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) occupy most of the driver’s attention. A large number of audio-visual channels for drivers are occupied, with their situation awareness of the traffic conditions decreases. The tactile channel is less occupied and highly intuitive. As a supplement to the audio-visual channel, it brings less perceptual and attentional load. Therefore, we studied the impact of tactile feedback on drivers’ situation awareness and verified that tactile feedback can enhance drivers’ situation awareness of traffic conditions in autonomous vehicles.