Characterizing Level 2 Automation in a Naturalistic Driving Fleet (VTTI-00-024)

Project Description: The introduction of automation features into the vehicle fleet is disrupting the way vehicles operate. Likewise, the introduction of more vehicles with automated features of increasing ability into the fleet can potentially affect what drivers do when the features are active and the expectations that drivers have related to vehicle functionality and characteristics. For these reasons, it is imperative to study driver adaptations in response to these innovations. The study of vehicle and driver adaptations as Society of Automotive Engineers Level 2 (L2) features are introduced into the fleet requires the collection of relevant data. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) L2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS), which includes over 200 vehicles equipped with L2 automation features, was leveraged in this investigation to support analyses of driver behavior with these systems. The work completed with this dataset focused on isolating and characterizing the VTTI L2 NDS participants’ use of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assistance Systems (LKAS)/Lane Centering (LC) in tandem. Data Scope: The dataset contains information characterizing the activation of L2 features during the trips taken by participants in a 55-vehicle subset of the VTTI L2 NDS. The dataset features 18,500 observations and includes details for trips with and without L2 system activations. The dataset has been stored in an Excel spreadsheet, with each row representing a single activation (or single trip, if there were no activations during the trip) and the columns storing the values for the different trip and/or activation characteristics of interest. Data Specification: Refer to the “Dictionary” tab in the Excel spreadsheet for this information.