Developers’ Information Needs during Test Drives with Automated Vehicles in Real Traffic: A Focus Group Study

So far, user interfaces are mainly developed for customers using highly automated driving functions, but little is known about the requirements on human machine interfaces for function developers. However, good development interfaces are important for efficient validating in real traffic test drives. Therefore, we present a focus group study with software developers of such functions to characterize their needs. Firstly, we identify typical situations where the automated vehicle executes an action other than the one expected, and, secondly, we gather developers’ requests for information to increase the traceability of driving decisions in general. We found that developers perceive actions involving lateral motion as being more non-transparent than with longitudinal motion and therefore identify a need for a more detailed explanation of these. Additionally, explanations should include more environmental features to help understand the reasons behind an action, and at the same time be tailored to the developers’ information interests.