Situation awareness in tactical driving: the role of simulation tools

This paper focuses on the role of simulation tools, such as the Simulated Highways for Intelligent Vehicle Algorithms (SHIVA), which enable researchers to design and rapidly prototype potential reasoning systems that can help demonstrate competent tactical-level behavior. The paper also describes PolySAPIENT (distributed Situation Awareness Planner Implementing Effective Navigation in Traffic), a tactical driving system consisting of multiple independent reasoning agents. The authors discuss how PolySAPIENT relies on simulation to optimize values for internal parameters and how it creates realistic driving scenarios using techniques derived from situation awareness theory.