The Influence of Modality on AV Explanations’ Effectiveness

Explanations — reasons or justifications for action — are being used to promote the acceptance of automated vehicles (AVs). Yet, it is unclear whether and how the modality of explanation affects its effectiveness. To expand our understanding of AV explanation, we conducted a within-subjects experiment with 32 participants using a high-fidelity driving simulator. Four conditions were presented to participants: (1) auditory explanation with a non-driving-related task (NDRT), (2) auditory explanation without NDRT, (3) visual explanation with NDRT, and (4) visual explanation without NDRT. This dataset includes information about the subjects, conditions, dependent variables (anxiety, unsafety), and independent variables (modality, tasks, technology suspicion).