High- and Low-Order Overtaking-Ability Affordances: Drivers Rely on the Maximum Velocity and Acceleration of Their Cars to Perform Overtaking Maneuvers. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Basilio, Numa; Morice, Antoine H. P.; Marti, Geoffrey; Montagne, Gilles
• Is Part Of: Human factors. Volume 57:Number 5(2015)
• Page Start: 879
• Page End: 894
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: driving -- overtaking -- affordance -- acceleration -- virtual reality; Human engineering -- Periodicals; 620.82
• DOI: 10.1177/0018720815583581
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0018-7208

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to answer the question, Do drivers take into account the action boundaries of their car when overtaking? Background: The Morice et al. affordance-based approach to visually guided overtaking suggests that the "overtake-ability" affordance can be formalized as the ratio of the "minimum satisfying velocity" (MSV) of the maneuver to the maximum velocity ( V max ) of the driven car. In this definition, however, the maximum acceleration ( A max ) of the vehicle is ignored. We hypothesize that drivers may be sensitive to an affordance redefined with the ratio of the "minimum satisfying acceleration" (MSA) to the A max of the car. Method: Two groups of nine drivers drove cars differing in their A max . They were instructed to attempt overtaking maneuvers in 25 situations resulting from the combination of five MSA and five MSV values. Results: When overtaking frequency was expressed as a function of MSV and MSA, maneuvers were found to be initiated differently for the two groups. However, when expressed as a function of MSV/ V max and MSA/ A max, overtaking frequency was quite similar for both groups. Finally, a multiple regression coefficient analysis demonstrated that overtaking decisions are fully explained by a composite variable comprising MSA/ A max and the time required to reach MSV. Conclusion: Drivers reliably decide whether overtaking is safe (or not) by using low- and high-order variables taking into account their car's maximum velocity and acceleration, respectively, as predicted by "affordance-based control" theory. Application: Potential applications include the design of overtaking assistance, which should exploit the MSA/ A max variables in order to suggest perceptually relevant overtaking solutions.