Level of automation: effects on train driver vigilance

This study reports preliminary results from the first of a series of experiments that aims to: examine the effects various levels of train driving automation may have on a number of human factor issues; assess the impact of these human factor issues on driver performance in terms of safety and efficiency; and explore possible methods of reducing these automation effects, if shown to be detrimental to driving performance. In this experiment, student participants were trained to drive a low-fidelity computer simulated passenger train on an intercity route. Vigilance task performance was measured as the distance along the track between the detection point of a safety critical event and the event object position, and was obtained while manipulating two IVs: between-subjects variable - Level-Of-Automation (LOA), having four levels: nil, low, intermediate, and high; and within-subjects variable -time-on-task, having two levels: safety critical event onset before 10 (Early) and after 60 (Late) minutes of driving. A Rail Signal Failure was used as a low salience safety critical event to be detected. It was predicted that: (1) driver vigilance would be poorest at higher levels of train automation; and (2) a vigilance decrement would occur over extended driving periods and this decrement would be more pronounced at higher levels of train automation.