The University of Southampton is to lead a research project into the potential impact automated vehicles might have on driver training.
The four-year project is the first to benefit from a £50k research grant from IAM RoadSmart and will be led by Professor Neville Stanton and Dr Katie Plant.
The programme of research will first focus on training, including the development of multi-disciplinary collaborative skills. The attention will then switch to simulation studies before the final on-road studies take place in year four.
Universities across the UK were invited to submit applications for the Human Factors Research Award, with the judging panel including Elizabeth Box, head of research at the RAC Foundation and Dr Shaun Helman from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
Professor Angus Wallace, trustee of IAM RoadSmart and chair of the research award panel, said: “The submission by University of Southampton was very carefully thought through, presented very clearly and looked at improving training of drivers of intelligent vehicles.”
IAM RoadSmart hopes the funding programme will help raise the standards of driver training, taking into account the implications of automated vehicles. The charity points to the fact that pilots of automated aircraft are required to undertake additional training after qualifying for non-automated craft, and asks what can be expected on the roads?
IAM RoadSmart also says the operation of increasingly more automated vehicles is likely to require different skills and place different demands on drivers than the operation of manual vehicles.
The University of Southampton collected the award at IAM RoadSmart’s Driver Ahead conference on 4 October at the Royal Automobile Club in London, which focussed on the future of the UK’s automotive industry in the face of the move towards more autonomous vehicles.
Category: Automated vehicles.
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