Advising on human factors for field trials with (partially) self-driving vehicles

Vehicles are increasingly equipped with systems that take over (elements of) the driving task. Eventually, this is expected to result in fully self-driving vehicles. The human role will shift from driver to supervisor, and ultimately to passenger. These systems are assumed to reduce the risk of human error and consequently to increase safety. At the same time, human factors will still influence the systems. After all, in the role of supervisor, human intervention is still necessary when the system requires it or in the case of system failure. Furthermore, it is still unclear how other road users will react to new systems. To stimulate innovations concerning self-driving vehicles, the Netherlands facilitates the testing of self-driving vehicles on public roads. As road safety is the main prerequisite, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment asked SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research for advice on how to carry out field trials with self-driving vehicles in the safest possible way.