Klaus Bengler

Technische Universität München | TUM · Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Many studies on effects of non-driving related tasks in the context of SAE Level 3 automated driving have been conducted in driving simulator settings applying standardized tasks. Thereby internal validity is favored over external validity. To assess the influence of engagement in three natural non-driving related tasks on takeover behavior in the...

Speech is considered a promising modality for human-machine interaction while driving, especially in reducing visual and manual distraction. However, speech-based user interfaces themselves have shown to increase cognitive distraction. There remains a lack of standardized and unambiguous methods for measuring the impact of speech-based assistants o...

With the introduction of Level 3 and 4 automated driving, the engagement in a variety of non-driving related activities (NDRAs) will become legal. Previous research has shown that users desire information about the remaining time in automated driving mode and system status information to plan and terminate their activity engagement. In past studies...

Over the past two decades, systemic-based risk assessment methods have garnered more attention, and their use and popularity are growing. In particular, the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) is one of the most widely used systemic methods for risk assessment and accident analysis. FRAM has been progressively evolved since its starting poi...

Efficient airconditioning concepts play an important role in current and future vehicles, especially in the context of electromobility. Since the seat represents the largest contact surface with the human body, it can contribute to efficient and local cooling of the occupant. The Chair of Ergonomics, Technical University of Munich, in cooperation w...

Background Research on task performance under visual field loss is often limited due to small and heterogenous samples. Simulations of visual impairments hold the potential to account for many of those challenges. Digitally altered pictures, glasses, and contact lenses with partial occlusions have been used in the past. One of the most promising me...

In the future, automated vehicles (AVs) without a human driver will potentially have to manage communication with vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, in everyday traffic interaction situations. The aim of this work is to investigate pedestrian reactions to external communication concepts in a controlled, but real-world crossing scenario. Th...

The introduction of SAE Level 3 and 4 will in the near future allow users to legally engage in a variety of non-driving related activities (NDRAs) during automated driving. However, automated driving functions will at first be available only on certain (predictable) segments of a drive, leading to fragmented journeys. To improve users’ control over...

The SAE International plays a major role in shaping research and development in the field of automated driving through its SAE J3016 automation taxonomy. Although the taxonomy contributed significantly to classification and development of automated driving, it has certain limitations. SAE J3016 implies an “all or nothing” approach for the human ope...

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in everyday products increases and thereby also the interest on human-AI interaction. Research on user-adaptive systems still lacks uniform terminology and common definitions. To fill this gap, a taxonomy of user-adaptive systems, the Levels of Adaptive Sensitive Responses (LASR), has been proposed in previou...

Lane changes represent central driving maneuvers on highways and are frequently linked to acceleration maneuvers. For automated driving, previous studies have addressed the issue of appropriate longitudinal accelerations for vehicle occupants. However, these investigations only considered pure longitudinal acceleration maneuvers and have neglected...

The ongoing transformation of mobility, including new services such as on-demand mobility, raises the question of how services need to be designed so that everyone can use them. The number of persons with mobility impairments is increasing as a result of demographic change, and with the current amendment of the law, it will be mandatory in Germany...

The urban traffic system is most likely to change in the next years to a mixed traffic with human drivers, vulnerable road users, and automated vehicles. In the past, the development of external communication approaches for automated vehicles focused on scenarios where an automated vehicle communicates with either a pedestrian or a human driver. Ho...

When do we follow requests and recommendations and which ones do we choose not to comply with? This publication combines definitions of compliance and reactance as behaviours and as affective processes in one model for application to human-robot interaction. The framework comprises three steps: human perception, comprehension, and selection of an a...

Due to changes in mobility and the emergence of new services, it is becoming necessary to establish new vehicle classes between conventional buses and privately owned vehicles. New mobility scenarios need concrete specifications to develop the most user-centered shuttle buses. As a result, we are looking for the requirements and needs of operators...

Some studies provide evidence that humans could actively exploit the alleged technological advantages of autonomous vehicles (AVs). This implies that humans may tend to interact differently with AVs as compared to human driven vehicles (HVs) with the knowledge that AVs are programmed to be risk-averse. Hence, it is important to investigate how huma...

In a two-step study, an interview followed by an online questionnaire , we investigated the potential and user needs for systems that can support humans in the context of creative work. We found that participants usually follow a general creative process in problem identification, preparation, idea generation and idea evaluation, while frequently j...

A newly developed prototype of a soft cable-driven elbow exoskeleton for lifting and lowering of loads was developed. To identify potential harmful forces within the elbow joint, an analysis was conducted with biomechanical simulation. To analyze the effect of the exoskeleton on the human body, biomechanical simulations were conducted on the protot...

Biomechanical simulations can be used to evaluate the human stress during use of existing power tools. However, when the design is disruptively changed, it is challenging to predict the future nature of the user's use, posture, and load. Although simulation environments already exist for body posture prediction, they are not suitable for unbounded...

Different levels of automation require distinct tasks of the driver. During partially automated driving, the driver has to supervise the system and the environment, whereas the driver can engage in non-driving related tasks during highly automated driving. With more aspects of the driving task being automated, the driver’s role becomes more passive...

Conditionally automated driving (L3) implies repeated transitions of the driving responsibility between the human operator and the automated driving system. This research examines users’ attitudes towards speech outputs as potential features for human-machine interfaces for L3 automated driving. The Kano method is applied to identify scenarios wher...

In the UNICARagil project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, four modular autonomous vehicle concepts are de-veloped. The paper deals with an autonomous taxi designed for ride sharing and non-driving tasks and activities. An online-based survey is conducted to evaluate integrated components and features of the seating...

Automated driving promises great possibilities in traffic safety advancement, frequently assuming that human error is the main cause of accidents, and promising a significant decrease in road accidents through automation. However, this assumption is too simplistic and does not consider potential side effects and adaptations in the socio-technical s...

Zusammenfassung Die mit der Ausbreitung der COVID-19 Pandemie in Deutschland einhergehende Anforderung betriebliche Arbeitsabläufe an die gesetzlichen Hygiene- und Kontaktreduktionsvorgaben anzupassen, hat zu kurzfristigen und teilweise radikalen Veränderungen in der Arbeitswelt geführt. Im Rahmen des Forschungsvorhabens COVID19LL wurde basierend a...

Causal models allow us to reconstruct traffic accidents, predict the likelihood of future accidents and implement counter measures to prevent them. For drivers with impairments like visual field loss, naturalistic data on crash causes is however scarce due to their current prohibition to drive. This paper presents an approach to deriving a causal m...

Malfunctions are a major challenge in partially automated driving. During such malfunctions, the driver must be able to adequately take over vehicle guidance without being requested to intervene. This may be particularly difficult in urban areas due to their high complexity and information density. Augmented Reality Head-Up Displays (ARHUDs) may ha...

Any new development of a vehicle is only justified if it is characterised by innovations of what has been available so far. Since innovations generally require high technical and financial expenditure for their realisation, it is necessary to ensure by means of tests whether the expected effect (safety, usability, attractiveness, etc.) is actually...

The flow of information between driver and vehicle plays the dominant role in the safe handling of automobiles. The investigation and description of this flow of information is the subject of the so-called system ergonomics. The starting point for the consideration is the function lying in the task. Decisive for the driver’s ability to cope in the...

Already in the introductory ► Sect. 1.1 of this book, the current main lines of development of the automobile were discussed. With technical progress, aspects described there will gain even more importance. Since technical developments always have an impact on the interaction between man and machine, they will influence the driver’s interaction pos...

From an ergonomic point of view, any support of human action by technical means constitutes assistance. Assistance can therefore take place on all three levels of the tasks while driving. However, due to the possibilities of technical sensor technology and information processing, assistance systems that focus on the primary driving task (Navigation...

The introduction of automated vehicles (AVs) leads to mixed traffic where the AV should safely and efficiently integrate into established interactions. Since the driving behavior and thus the AV’s communication may differ from that of traditional road users, highly comprehensible communication strategies are needed to reliably convey the AV’s inten...

The use of virtual reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in the field of traffic psychology, where realistic traffic situations can be simulated and pedestrians' actual crossing behavior can be studied. There are two main kinds of pedestrian simulators: one uses a technology based on rear-projection screens (Cave Automatic Virtual Environmen...

Standstill behavior by a robot is deemed to be ineffective and inefficient to convey a robot's intention to yield priority to another party in spatial interaction. Instead, robots could convey their intention and thus their next action via motion. We developed a back-off (BO) movement to communicate the intention of yielding priority to pedestrians...

The Wizard of Oz (WoOz) research paradigm is very versatile in terms of experimental procedure, which is why special attention has to be paid to achieving valid results. In this context, for example, driving wizards must be able to consistently reproduce the driving style of an automated vehicle to ensure reliability and validity of the experiment....

Fahrerassistenzsysteme erlebten bereits seit den Anfängen in den 70er und 80er Jahren eine faszinierende Entwicklung, die noch längst nicht abgeschlossen ist: Einerseits sind Einzelsysteme wie Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keeping Assistant, Parkassistenz etc. bereits in Serie, die bestimmte Aspekte der Fahrzeugführung unterstützen, indem sie z. B....

Zusammenfassung Die Veränderungen der gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen für die Verantwortung von Unternehmen für ihre Lieferkette bzw. die absehbaren Veränderungen in Deutschland und Europa erfordern eine Sicherung der Qualität der Arbeits- (und Lebens)bedingungen im Sinne von „decent work“ bei den Lieferanten. Zur Überprüfung dieser Situation kann d...

To this point, research regarding Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) and information needs in automated vehicles has focused on the period when the automation is active whereas this study investigated information needs regarding an AutomSSSated Driving System (ADS) while the same is not available. A driving simulator study (N = 34) was conducted to me...

Multi pedestrian scenarios are the next step towards more realistic traffic research. We conducted a traffic observation with uninformed pedestrians to find differences in behavior depending on the pedestrians group sizes. We found out that most of the pedestrian’s behavior occurs while they approach the street curb which hasn’t been reported in pr...

The introduction of conditionally automated driving [25] implies repeated transitions of the driving task between the human operator and the automated driving system (ADS). Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) facilitating these shifts in control are essential. Usability serves as an important criterion to assess the quality of an HMI design. This paper...

To ensure the safe and correct use of conditionally automated driving functions, users need to be given appropriate information about the system’s limitations and their responsibilities. This study compares the effect of two interactive driver education video tutorials with varying levels of information relating to the intended use of SAE Level 3 (...

Drivers with visual field loss show a heterogeneous driving performance due to the varying ability to compensate for their perceptual deficits. This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the factors that determine the development of adaptive scanning strategies. The application of the Saliency-Effort-Expectancy-Value (SEEV) model to the use...

Minimal Risk Maneuvers (MRMs) are introduced to reduce the risk of an accident during the transition from automated to manual driving. In this paper, we present the results of a dynamic driving simulator study with 56 participants with the control authority as the independent variable, i.e. allowing and blocking driver input during the MRM. In orde...

With regard to autonomous driving and associated new interior concepts of the vehicle, the focus will be on innovative and efficient air-conditioning concepts concerning the seat. The seat offers the opportunity to provide air-conditioning close to the body of the passenger. A new seat ventilation which generates a directed air flow to the passenge...

As automation of driving emerges, the driver becomes a passenger. If an automation reaches its system limits, the driver is obliged to retake the control over the vehicle. Grabbing the steering wheel is essential to assume lateral control, however non-driving related activities enabled by the automation may interfere with this process. This paper s...

Future mobility is changing so that new requirements concerning air conditioning in vehicles arise. With the increase of electric- and the development of autonomously driving vehicles, classical air conditioning concepts ought to be adapted to fulfil new requirements. During the development of new climate concepts, the thermal wellbeing of the occu...

Due to the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, which led to a worldwide pandemic, many companies were forced to rethink and redefine the working conditions for their employees and the networks with their business partners to secure their productivity and economic survival. Many of these developments have been discussed even before the pandemic as a ne...

At the beginning of the year 2020, the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 triggered a worldwide pandemic. To contain the infections, far-reaching measures were taken that had a major impact on social life. The need to keep physical distance has changed the way employees behave and communicate. To better understand how the pandemic is changing the daily wor...

The introduction of automated vehicles (AVs) into urban areas initially leads to mixed traffic, consisting of AVs, human drivers, and vulnerable road users. Since the AV’s passenger is no longer actively involved in the driving task, there may be changes in the interaction between AVs and surrounding human road users. Therefore, it is essential for...

Context-adaptive functions are not new in the driving context, but even so, investigations into these functions concerning the automation human-machine interface (aHMI) have yet to be carried out. This study presents research into context-adaptive availability notifications for an SAE Level 3 automation in scenarios where participants were surprise...

In previous experiments, a back-off movement was introduced as a motion strategy of robots to facilitate the order of passage at bottlenecks in human-robot spatial interaction. In this article we take a closer look at the appropriate application of motion parameters that make the backward movement legible. Related works in distance perception, size...

In previous experiments, a back-off movement was introduced as a motion strategy of robots to facilitate the order of passage at bottlenecks in human-robot spatial interaction. In this article we take a closer look at the appropriate application of motion parameters that make the backward movement legible. Related works in distance perception, size...

Interactive pedestrian simulators have become a valuable research tool for investigating street-crossing behavior and developing solutions for improving pedestrian safety. There are two main kinds of pedestrian simulators: one uses a technology based on rear-projection screens (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, or CAVE), the other a head-mounted...

An important factor for designing the interaction of automated vehicles (AVs) with surrounding road users is the capability of the human communication partner, especially the perception, processing and response. As these processes need time, there is a latest moment the AV has to define its communication strategy. The present work analyzes the situ...

Automated driving offers great possibilities in traffic safety advancement. However, evidence of safety cannot be provided by current validation methods. One promising solution to overcome the approval trap (Winner, 2015) could be the scenario-based approach. Unfortunately, this approach still results in a huge number of test cases. One possible wa...

Known issues at higher automation levels are hoped to be solved by the systems capability to automatically perform maneuvers in order to achieve a so-called minimal risk condition. In this paper, we contribute to this developing research field and emphasize the driver’s perspective. We have conducted a video survey with 49 participants showing diff...

Objective To contribute to the validation of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for analyzing pedestrian behavior, we compared two types of high-fidelity pedestrian simulators to a test track. Background While VR has become a popular tool in pedestrian research, it is uncertain to what extent simulator studies evoke the same behavior as nonvirtual env...

In the human-centered research on automated driving, it is common practice to describe the vehicle behavior by means of terms and definitions related to non-automated driving. However, some of these definitions are not suitable for this purpose. This paper presents an ontology for automated vehicle behavior which takes into account a large number o...

Ergonomics teaches how to design technology in such a way that it is optimally adapted to the needs, wishes and characteristics of the user. In this context, the concept of the human-machine system has become established. In a systematic way and with a detailed view of the complicated technical and perceptual psychological and methodological connec...

When prototyping automated vehicles using the WoZ methodology, the driving behavior simulated by driving wizards significantly shapes participants’ experience during the experiment. Therefore, driving wizards should be provided with instructions regarding the automated driving behavior. However, they are currently instructed in different ways. It i...

In the development of future mobility concepts, automated vehicles (AV) will change road transportation and promise increasing quality of life. In order to allow non-driving related tasks (NDRT) like eating, texting or relaxing during the journey, the vehicle has to be designed differently. According to future interior concepts, the vehicle becomes...

Zukünftige Fahrzeug-und Mobilitätskonzepte versprechen, die Zeit während der Fahrt durch neue und innovative Interieuransätze effektiver zu gestalten. Dabei besteht jedoch die Gefahr an Kinetose (Motion Sickness) zu leiden. In vergangenen Studien konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine zurückgelehnte Sitzposition die Ausprägungen der physiologischen Reizr...

Introducing Automated Vehicles (AVs) to urban traffic comes along with a variety of challenges, especially when encountering other, unequipped road users. In these mixed traffic conditions, interaction is key to keep traffic moving and minimise misunderstandings and potentially critical situations. The interACT project aims to enable AVs to interac...

Standstill behavior by a robot is deemed to be ineffective and inefficient to convey a robot's intention to yield priority to another party in spatial interaction. Instead, robots could convey their intention and, thus, their next action via motion. We developed a back-off movement to communicate the intention of yielding priority to pedestrians at...

Driver take-overs at system limits and the corresponding requests to intervene are not obligatory in highly automated driving. Therefore, minimal risk maneuvers may occur. In order to clearly communicate the automation status and the driver’s task at such system limits, ambient light displays seem to have a high potential. Therefore, two ambient li...