Consideration of the Available Evading Space for the Evaluation of the Driver Reaction to Emergency Steering Interventions

One of the goals of the subproject KON was the investigation of the applicability of existing controllability evaluation methods of assistance systems operating in urban areas. Due to the use of these systems in urban traffic conditions different boundary conditions have to be considered with regard to the space available for specific driving manoeuvres by the driver. A real-vehicle study was conducted which addressed the influence of the available evading space on the driver reaction to steering interventions for evading assistance. The study investigated the reaction to system-initiated interventions for varying available evading space during normal system use as well as false activations. The data analysis showed that drivers adapt their reaction: They allowed a higher lateral deviation if evading space is available and suppressed the system intervention if the available evading space is limited. This should be considered for possible enhancements of the evaluation methodology of steering interventions. While existing controllability criteria which are based on the exceedance of the own driving lane seem therefore not to be applicable for the investigated system interventions, the driver adapt their reaction to the available evading space.