Ifsttar PhD subject

French version
Detailed form :

Title : Study of stress and its regulation in the context of autonomous driving in the light of individual differences

Main host Laboratory - Referent Advisor   -

Director of the main host Laboratory   -

PhD Speciality Sciences Cognitives

Axis of the performance contract 1 - COP2017 - Efficient transport and safe travel

Main location Bron

Doctoral affiliation UNIVERSITE LUMIERE- LYON 2

PhD school NEUROSCIENCES ET COGNITION (NSCO)

Planned PhD supervisor JALLAIS Christophe  -  Université Gustave Eiffel  -  TS2 - LESCOT

Planned financing Contrat doctoral  - Ifsttar

Abstract

Stress is a phenomenon frequently encountered in driving. It can affect the safety and comfort of users. Driving automation offers new ways to improve safety and reduce the danger posed by some human factors. However, it can also result in the concomitant occurrence of non-driving related tasks, and still inevitably requires supervision during phases of manual driving. To mitigate the negative effects of stress, implicit (or subtle) regulation strategies that do not impair the driving task can be used. Because driving automation is increasingly available to a variety of individuals, it is therefore important to consider the individual differences between persons that can influence stress and its regulation.
The objectives of this thesis were threefold: (1) to study the effects of stress during an autonomous driving situation with takeover and manual driving phases, (2) to verify the effectiveness of regulation techniques based on the modulation of the physiological response on the level of stress and (3) to consider the individual traits that can influence stress and its regulation in the context of safety and comfort during autonomous driving.
To achieve these objectives, we first identified stress regulation techniques applicable to a driving context. Some of these techniques, based on physiological modulation (cardiac and respiratory), were tested both in a laboratory context and in an autonomous driving simulation. A game was designed to induce stress during the supervision task, and behavioral and physiological measures were used to investigate the impact of this stress on individuals and on their performance on the supervision task and on manual driving. In both experiments, individual traits (e.g., personality, driving habits) were considered in the study of stress and regulation techniques.
The results showed that stress increased the level of engagement of participants toward the game, despite weakly negative effects on safety (in terms of responses to takeover notifications and driving behavior). The subjective effects of stress and regulation techniques varied according to individual traits related to the interpretation of stressful context, and to the perception of the bracelet used. Regulation was most effective when it allowed the attention to be diverted from the stressors, without being perceived as an additional difficulty. The mechanism of attentional redeployment seemed central to the functioning of cardiac regulation, whereas it seemed to support the effectiveness of physiological modulation in the case of respiratory regulation. These results show that the use of implicit regulation should consider the level of attention that they require to be effective, which may vary between individuals.

Keywords : Stress, Subtle regulation, Physiology, Driving, Driving automation, Non-driving related task, Individual traits, Attention

Main host Laboratory - Referent Advisor	-
Director of the main host Laboratory	-
PhD Speciality	Sciences Cognitives
Axis of the performance contract	1 - COP2017 - Efficient transport and safe travel
Main location	Bron
Doctoral affiliation	UNIVERSITE LUMIERE- LYON 2
PhD school	NEUROSCIENCES ET COGNITION (NSCO)
Planned PhD supervisor	JALLAIS Christophe - Université Gustave Eiffel - TS2 - LESCOT
Planned financing	Contrat doctoral - Ifsttar
Abstract Stress is a phenomenon frequently encountered in driving. It can affect the safety and comfort of users. Driving automation offers new ways to improve safety and reduce the danger posed by some human factors. However, it can also result in the concomitant occurrence of non-driving related tasks, and still inevitably requires supervision during phases of manual driving. To mitigate the negative effects of stress, implicit (or subtle) regulation strategies that do not impair the driving task can be used. Because driving automation is increasingly available to a variety of individuals, it is therefore important to consider the individual differences between persons that can influence stress and its regulation. The objectives of this thesis were threefold: (1) to study the effects of stress during an autonomous driving situation with takeover and manual driving phases, (2) to verify the effectiveness of regulation techniques based on the modulation of the physiological response on the level of stress and (3) to consider the individual traits that can influence stress and its regulation in the context of safety and comfort during autonomous driving. To achieve these objectives, we first identified stress regulation techniques applicable to a driving context. Some of these techniques, based on physiological modulation (cardiac and respiratory), were tested both in a laboratory context and in an autonomous driving simulation. A game was designed to induce stress during the supervision task, and behavioral and physiological measures were used to investigate the impact of this stress on individuals and on their performance on the supervision task and on manual driving. In both experiments, individual traits (e.g., personality, driving habits) were considered in the study of stress and regulation techniques. The results showed that stress increased the level of engagement of participants toward the game, despite weakly negative effects on safety (in terms of responses to takeover notifications and driving behavior). The subjective effects of stress and regulation techniques varied according to individual traits related to the interpretation of stressful context, and to the perception of the bracelet used. Regulation was most effective when it allowed the attention to be diverted from the stressors, without being perceived as an additional difficulty. The mechanism of attentional redeployment seemed central to the functioning of cardiac regulation, whereas it seemed to support the effectiveness of physiological modulation in the case of respiratory regulation. These results show that the use of implicit regulation should consider the level of attention that they require to be effective, which may vary between individuals.
Keywords :	Stress, Subtle regulation, Physiology, Driving, Driving automation, Non-driving related task, Individual traits, Attention

List of topics

Applications closed