Driver seat comfort for level 3-4 autonomous vehicles

Mansfield, N. ORCID: 0000-0001-6769-1721, Walia, K. and Singh, A., 2019. Driver seat comfort for level 3-4 autonomous vehicles. In: 2nd International Comfort Congress, Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft), Delft, Netherlands, 29-30 August 2019.

[img]
Preview
Text
14826_Mansfield.pdf - Published version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles can classified on a scale from 0 to 5, where level 0 corresponds to vehicles that have no automation to level 5 where the vehicle is fully autonomous and it is not possible for the human occupant to take control. At level 2, the driver needs to retain attention as they are in control of at least some systems. Level 3-4 vehicles are capable of full control but the human occupant might be required to, or desire to, intervene in some circumstances. This means that there could be extended periods of time where the driver is relaxed, but other periods of time when they need to drive. The seat must therefore be designed to be comfortable in at least two different types of use case. This driving simulator study compares the comfort experienced in a seat from a production hybrid vehicle whilst being used in a manual driving mode and in autonomous mode for a range of postures. It highlights how discomfort is worse for cases where the posture is non-optimal for the task. It also investigates the design of head and neckrests to mitigate neck discomfort, and shows that a well-designed neckrest is beneficial for drivers in autonomous mode.

Item Type: Conference contribution
Creators: Mansfield, N., Walia, K. and Singh, A.
Date: August 2019
Divisions: Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 16 Sep 2019 10:56
Last Modified: 16 Sep 2019 10:56
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/37669

Actions (login required)

Edit View Edit View

Views

Views per month over past year

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year