The Relationship Between Partial-Automation Use and Driver Sentiment Toward Automation

In this study we utilize naturalistic driving data and semi-structured interviews from the MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology naturalistic driving study to explore the relationship between partial-automation use behaviors and driver sentiment by connecting automation use, prevalence of Elevated Driving Kinematic (EDK) events, and incidence of drops in steering support, with participant sentiments towards partial-automation performance and trust in partial-automation. We found that higher automation users expressed more positive statements about system use ( p = 0.012). Additionally, participants that experienced more EDKs during automation use expressed lower sentiments concerning automation performance. Participants that experienced more drops in automated steering support expressed lower trust in automation and lower sentiments toward automation performance. This work takes an important step in connecting driver sentiment to observed and measurable behaviors in real-world driving to aid in design of more useful and trustworthy automation.