Driver Terminal Alerts for Automated Driving Handover Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In vehicles performing automatic driving, drivers often fail to switch to manual driving when necessary, as they may be distracted and not notice alerts displayed on the dashboard, leading to safety concerns when automatic driving cannot be continued.
Innovation Solution
An alarm system that communicates with a portable terminal used by the driver, displaying alerts when the vehicle approaches a termination point for automatic driving, prompting the driver to switch to manual driving through visual, auditory, or vibrational cues, ensuring the driver's attention is drawn to the need for manual intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If alarm information is displayed only on the dashboard display, then the alarm system is simple, but the driver may not notice the alarm when focused on a portable terminal
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm notification function is segmented across multiple display channels: the dashboard display and the portable terminal. This allows the alarm information to be delivered through at least one effective channel even if the driver is not attending to the dashboard, thereby improving notification reliability without requiring a completely new system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The portable terminal acts as an intermediary device for delivering alarm information. By utilizing the driver's existing portable terminal (which they are already focused on), the system leverages an intermediate communication channel to ensure the driver notices the alarm, converting the potential distraction into an effective notification medium.
2Ease of operation
If the driver focuses attention on a portable terminal during automatic driving, then the driver can use the terminal freely, but the driver may fail to notice alarm information displayed on the dashboard
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm notification is extended from the two-dimensional dashboard display to include the portable terminal, which exists in a different spatial and attentional dimension. By delivering alarm information to the portable terminal that the driver is already focused on, the system ensures notification occurs in the driver's current attentional dimension rather than requiring a shift to the dashboard.
3Reliability
If alarm information is displayed on the portable terminal, then the driver is more likely to notice the alarm, but the system complexity increases due to communication requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The portable terminal serves multiple functions: it acts as both the driver's personal device for communication and entertainment, and as an additional alarm notification display. By utilizing the terminal's existing display and communication capabilities, the system avoids adding dedicated hardware while still achieving enhanced notification reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
An alarm apparatus for a vehicle is configure to be capable of communicating with a portable terminal to be used at a driver seat by a driver of the vehicle that performs automatic driving, alarms the driver using the portable terminal, and includes a determination unit that determines whether a distance or arrival time from the vehicle to a termination position for the automatic driving is a predetermined value or less, during the automatic driving, based on position information about the vehicle and map information, or based on surrounding environment information about the vehicle, and an alarm unit that displays alarm information for having the driver start manual driving, on a screen of the portable terminal, when the determination unit determines that the distance or arrival time from the vehicle to the termination position for the automatic driving is the predetermined value or less.