Driver Heterogeneity in Willingness to Give Control to Conditional Automation

The driver's willingness to give (WTG) control in conditionally automated driving is assessed in a virtual reality based driving-rig, through their choice to give away driving control and through the extent to which automated driving is adopted in a mixed-traffic environment. Within- and across-class unobserved heterogeneity and locus of control variations are taken into account. The choice of giving away control is modelled using the mixed logit (MIXL) and mixed latent class (LCML) model. The significant latent segments of the locus of control are developed into internalizers and externalizers by the latent class model (LCM) based on the taste heterogeneity identified from the MIXL model. Results suggest that drivers choose to "giveAway" control of the vehicle when greater concentration/attentiveness is required (e.g., in the nighttime) or when they are interested in performing a non-driving-related task (NDRT). In addition, it is observed that internalizers demonstrate more heterogeneity compared to externalizers in terms of WTG.