Shared Control Framework and Application for European Research Projects

Current commercial Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) assist the driver indirectly through warning signals. However, a new generation of ADAS and Automated Driving applications, known as Shared Control, where driver and automation control the vehicle together, have the potential to influence upcoming functionalities, improving the driving performance and reducing the driver’s physical and mental workload. The development of such a system has the attention of the European Commission, and different Research Innovation Actions (RIA) are developing new technologies for the human-centered design of partially and highly-automated vehicles. In particular, the PRYSTINE and HADRIAN projects are facing the challenge of sharing the authority of the dynamic driving task between driver and automation. In this sense, a common approach is shared between these projects to combine the necessary systems for a complete collaborative driver-automation framework. The integration of a Driver Monitoring System, a cooperative HMI, and a Shared Control System is part of their goals. In particular, the control system in charge of changing the control authority will be presented in this article for a collaborative overtaking scenario, analyzing two modalities: a collision-avoidance system, and a control transition system. Results, discussion, and future challenges are presented.