Autonomic responses of young passengers contingent to the speed and driving mode of a vehicle

The purpose of the research was to measure the sensibility of young passengers through autonomic responses and subjective assessment under different speeds and driving modes of a vehicle. The study is composed of two categories: (1) measurement of the human sensibility at five speeds of a vehicle (i.e., 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 km/h), and (2) three modes of driving conditions (i.e., rest, constant speed (60 km/h), sudden start, sudden stop). The physiological measurements used are autonomic responses of heart rate, galvanic skin response, and skin temperature, and the psychological measurement is the subjective assessment. Comparing the results of the pre-test with the post-test under various speed conditions, it was found that subjects feel tension under the high speed driving condition (120 km/h). The result of physiological signals also showed that as the speed of a car increased, the sympathetic nervous system of passengers became more highly activated. Comparing the rest and constant speed conditions with the sudden-start-sudden-stop condition, the subjects reported that they felt tension, and the responses of their autonomic nervous system also show that for the sudden-start-sudden-stop condition, the sympathetic nervous system was highly activated. The present study showed that depending on the speed of a vehicle and the driving mode, the human sensibilities change. It also showed that human sensibilities can be measured in an objective and systematical way as well as in the conventional and subjective way. Relevance to industry: If the relationship between human feelings or emotions and physiological and psychological parameters of a passenger or driver were clarified better, car designs could be developed based on the characteristics of human senses or feelings.