The Impact of Mind Wandering on Signal Detection, Semi-autonomous Driving Performance, and Physiological Responses

Significant growth in the number of autonomous vehicles is expected in the coming years. With this technology, drivers will likely begin to disengage from the driving task and often experience mind wandering. Research has examined the effects of mind wandering on manual driving performance, but little work has been done to understand its impact on autonomous driving. In addition, it is unclear what physiological measurements can reveal about mind wandering in the driving context. Therefore, the goals of this paper were to (a) understand how mind wandering affects warning signal detection, semi-autonomous driving performance, and physiological responses, and (b) develop a model to predict mind wandering. Preliminary findings suggest that mind wandering may be observed as a result of road familiarity, and that the number of driving years and response times to alerts may be suitable predictors of mind wandering. This work is expected to help inform the design of future autonomous vehicles to prevent distracted driving behaviors.