CAD JapanGermany:HF – Japanese-German research cooperation investigates networked and automated driving

The joint research activities on a highly relevant aspect of urban transport, automated driving, deal with three fundamental aspects. Communication with the surrounding traffic, the interaction between the user and the automation and questions of how future users should be informed, trained and educated.

The collaboration supports both a broader, cross-cultural perspective to raise fundamental questions about automated systems and the combination of different scientific approaches to answer them. The results of this ambitious endeavour could have a positive impact on the adaptation or development of standards for the design and evaluation of such systems and training methods.

In order to master even complicated traffic situations, communication between man and machine must function quickly and safely. Human interaction with automated vehicles via interfaces, so-called human-machine interfaces (HMIs), is therefore the focus of the "CADJapanGermany: Human Factors" project. Innovative interfaces are to be developed with the help of which the networked and autonomous vehicle can communicate with occupants and other road users. One approach is light signals in the form of light bands. The DLR team from the Institute of Transportation Systems is also focussing on implicit communication via motion HMIs. "We are investigating how vehicles can communicate with people using movements. When the autonomously driving car approaches a junction, it can very obviously slow down so that pedestrians and cyclists recognise that they have right of way and make their decision to cross the road based on this," explains DLR scientist Dr. Caroline Schießl.

In order to develop such motion HMIs, the DLR researchers first need to understand the basics of implicit communication between road users. In the next step, they derive the requirements for the function and design of such interfaces, implement them as prototypes and test them with test subjects in the laboratory. For this task, the DLR experts can draw on extensive expertise and a unique infrastructure: special research vehicles, driving simulators and a research intersection help to determine the effect of human-machine interfaces and evaluate them for comprehensibility, trustworthiness and safety.

On the one hand, the DLR aims to define, develop and analyse user-centred interactions and cooperation between different road users in urban mixed traffic in order to better understand urban traffic events and model them on a behavioural level. Based on the findings and models obtained, requirements for the design and function of supporting Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) are derived. These will be implemented as prototypes and evaluated with users in the laboratory.

External human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) for different vehicle types.
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Project title:
CAD JapanGermany:HF - Japanese-German research cooperation in the field of networked automated driving: Human Factors

Duration:
09/2019 to 08/2022

Project volume:
€ 2.400.000

Contracting authority:
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (VDI/VDE)

Project participants:
TU München (Prof. Bengler)
TU Chemnitz (Prof. Krems)
TU Dresden (Prof. Petzold)
University of Ulm (Prof. Baumann)
University of Tsukuba
University of Tokio
Kumamoto University
Keio University
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Links:

Data protection concept of the real vehicle study in the CADJapanGermany:HF project

DLR takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. We would like to inform you about which personal data we process as part of the "CADJapanGermany" study, for how long and for what purposes we do so, and provide you with further information required by data protection law.

This project is managed by the department:

Information Flow Modeling in Mobility Systems

The department conducts research on the informational foundations for the design of future mobility, with a view to all stakeholders – people, technical systems and services. Here, scientists develop methods for determining information needs, modeling information flows, and designing innovative solutions for digital, automated, and connected mobility systems based on this information.

Contact

Dr. Caroline Schießl

Head of Department
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute of Transportation Systems
Information Flow Modeling in Mobility Systems
Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108 Braunschweig