Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine October 2016 | Page 28

A New Passenger Model By Cynthia Rando, Sophic Synergistics, LLC [email protected] We have been dreaming of the day when autonomous driving cars would become a reality. It has played a significant role in pop culture, reflected in movies like Back to the Future where we were introduced to flying DeLorean’s. From science fiction to present day reality, the introduction of the first driver-less prototypes has been met with excitement and concern. As humans, breaking boundaries and bringing to life innovative concepts, such as autonomous cars, is an activity that is part of our DNA. However, with every technology there are always hurdles to overcome before it can be safely integrated into everyday lives. This past February the Department of Transportation released ‘The Pathway to Driverless Cars’, a report which defines and theorizes how the government plans on facilitating the testing of autonomous vehicles. This report envisions a driver-less vehicle in which the passenger can be free and clear of any involvement in operating the vehicle. However, with the number of recent accidents involving driver-less prototypes, more research and development is needed before this vision can become a reality. Designers will need to focus more on the human variable in this equation, specifically how you make the technology respond in ways that match human mental models, behaviors and expected outcomes. This is particularly important because we are no longer drivers but autonomous passengers with new responsibilities. The desire is that autonomous vehicles will become a safety feature, drastically reducing the number of accidents, injuries or deaths experienced on our roadways each year. In 2014, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration there were an estimated 10,579,000 vehicles involved in police-reported traffic crashes. The autonomous capability could eliminate the occurrence of human error, drastically reducing the number of accidents each year. The current autonomous prototypes are able to drive around a track without intervention by a human within a controlled and predictable environment. When we consider real life implementation, driving within busy streets filled with many different types of transportation vehicles and people, the prototypes do not operate well in the unpredictable and chaotic environment without human involvement. To achieve autonomous operation at this level of complexity, the technology will need to better incorporate and model how a human interacts and makes split decisions within a dynamic driving environment.