Design of context-aware systems for vehicles using complex system paradigms

This paper argues that the driving task exhibits the properties of complex systems. Driving behavior emerges from the intricate and complex interactions between the driver, the vehicle and the environment. An emerging driving behavior could not necessary be linearly predicted. However a context-aware system could assist the driver in augmenting the probability of undertaking safe behavior. Unlike existing context aware systems which isolate one characteristic such as road or driver workload and concentrate on it in exclusion of the others factors, this seminal research proposes a context awareness design which considers the driver, vehicle and environment as a whole. We focus on the principles that underlie the system in order to model it with the view of understanding, predicting and improving driver behavior. This approach places context-aware design within a wider framework that takes into account information related to the driver, environment and vehicle. It recommends approaches for building safety critical context-aware systems. Such an approach aids in the design of safe in-vehicle context-aware systems.