Automated Car System

Introduction:

The concept of driving has seen great strides in the technology that has been designed at making the motor industry safe and economical for all drivers and operators. The introduction of automation and super computer based technology has greatly altered the environment of driving. The role of the driver in modern driving has shifted to more of a situational manager. The motivation to provide increased level of control to autonomous systems grew from the desire to ease the role of the driver as well as improve the safety while driving. An automated car, specifically the Tesla Model S, consists of multiple advanced computers located in the car, a forward facing radar, twelve electro-sonic sensors, and multiple high powered GPS devices, all of which aim to monitor the close and far surroundings of the car. Autonomous driving systems have the ability of performing all driving operations such as breaking, accelerating, switching lanes, and alerting the driver of blind spots. The different systems aim to provide the driver with continuous information to supplement the drivers experience by enhancing the spatial and situational awareness so that drivers can make the optimal decisions in their given situations. (YouTube video 2016).

The information available to drivers has greatly expanded due to onboard computer systems. The different technological systems have evolved the driver’s role to more of an observer. The influx of technology has led to multiple shortcomings in the driver’s performance, specifically in emergency situations. Specifically, because of the ease and comfort provided by the autonomous system, the driver feels lulled to sleep, causing their reactions and awareness to greatly decrease. (YouTube video 2016) This phenomenon, as described by Mica Endsley, is called Out-of-the-Loop performance problem. (Endsley 1995) Despite the reduced workload on the driver, the environment created is more soothing and causes the driver’s senses to be dulled, making it difficult to react to the increased amount of information. As a result, the autonomous driving system has decreased the operator’s situational awareness and ability to make decisions. By exploring the automated systems within motor vehicles, it is possible to show the detrimental effects on situational awareness and decision making of the drivers.

Overview of the System:

Automation in the modern cockpit revolves mainly around the super computer processor of the Tesla. (Tesla 2017) Introduction of the super computer processors, combined with the wide array of radar, ultrasonic sensors, and cameras, has made the job of the driver outdated. The system also contains a primary control pad where most of the interactions between the driver and the car take place. The computer processors perform functions including breaking, accelerating, switching lanes, and alerting the driver of blind spots. In order to properly complete the necessary actions while driving, Tesla has improved its onboard computer processing speed by nearly forty times such that the computer is able to process all the information provided by the individual components.

The primary function of the supercomputers located in the Tesla is to monitor the information coming in through a continuous feedback loop where information is continuously being updated. The Tesla consists of a navigational GPS that the user can set by entering the location and certain checkboxes for what the user may want while driving (i.e no lane switching, max speed, freeways or local streets, etc.). While in motion, the role of the supercomputer in the Tesla model S is largely to provide the driver with accurate information about how the car is function as well as the surrounding environment. The interface aims to increase the situation awareness of the driver by providing information regarding the position of the car in relation to the lanes or other cars around. While driving, a monitor on the dashboard will highlight the lanes as well as the environment surrounding the car. That is, the lanes will be in a blue color with the speed of the vehicle right above it. Similarly, there will be diagrams from the sensors showing if there are any objects to pay attention to within an eight to ten feet radius. (Lambert 2016) Figure 1 shows an overview of the Tesla’s system.

Figure 1: Overview of the Tesla Autonomous Driving System (Tesla 2017)

Assessment of Autonomous Driving and Situation Awareness:

Maintaining a high degree of situation awareness is the most fundamental role of a driver. Being aware of the current state of the vehicle and the surroundings are essential for fast and accurate decision making capabilities of the driver to ensure the safety during the trip. In “Toward a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems,” Mica Endsley formally declared “situation awareness will be presented as a crucial construct on which decision making and performance in such systems hinge.” (Endsley 1995) From the article, it can be seen that situation can be divided into three main categories: first, the perception of information from the environment; second, the understanding of what the information means; third, how is the future impacted based on the information that was received and comprehended.

The Tesla model S is indeed a great improvement for technology and its adaptation to everyday life. However, the system itself is one that is trapped in an odd situation: the more people that have the automated car, the safer and more efficient traveling will be; the less people that have the car, the more dangerous. When there are more human drivers on the streets, the number of unpredictable situations makes it difficult for the computer to process and predict what could possibly happen. Because of the comfort as well as the capacity of the technology, many drivers lose their focus and as a result are unable to quickly act based on the given situation. This is primarily a result stemming from the technology itself.

On the other hand, the technology does strive to ensure that all the information is provided to the driver, the only difference is that they are not in direct control of the accelerating and breaking. Detailed information from all the sensors lets the driver know what is going on ahead of them and thus provides a predictive model for the car. Although upon ignition it is recommended by Tesla that the driver keeps his hand on the steering wheel, it is easy to see how people can become distracted or relaxed because of all the Tesla’s functionality.

As such, viewing the system itself, it is clear that many considerations have been brought up in terms of safety, efficiency, and performance