Semi-Autonomous Drive and its Effect on Mode Awareness and User Experience

This paper outlines thesis work aiming to describe and understand the phenomenon of ‘mode confusion’ in the interaction between driver and semi-autonomous vehicles. The final thesis goal is to develop a set of design principles, which can guide the development of in-vehicle information systems to enhance the user experience of semi-automated driving. The scientific approach chosen to address the described knowledge gaps, consists of two phases; an exploratory research phase aiming to understand the research field, which is followed by a design research approach aiming to develop design guidelines. This paper describes the first phase of the project, which aims to build a theoretical framework and finally define a hypothesis concerning the phenomenon of ‘mode confusion’. A first draft of the developed hypothesis is presented.