Multitasking in Autonomous Vehicles: Ready to Go?

Abstract

Autonomous cars can take over tasks from the driver and thereby have the potential to free cognitive resources that humans normally allocate to vehicle control. Theoretically, this can create opportunities for the driver to spend time on other tasks such as reading email or making a phone call. However, what happens in situations where the car makes a fatal error? How well does the driver notice this? And how quickly do they respond? In this paper we take the position that a better understanding is needed of the consequences of autonomous vehicles for the human operator.