What happens when drivers of automated vehicles take over control in critical lane change situations?

According to legislation, take-overs initiated by the driver must always be possible during automated driving. For example, when drivers mistrust the automation to handle a critical and hazardous lane change, they might intervene and take over control while the automation is performing the maneuver. In these situations, drivers may have little time to avoid an accident and can be exposed to high lateral forces. Due to lacking research, it is yet unknown if they recognize the criticality of the situation and how they behave and perform to manage it. In a driving simulator study, participants (N = 60) accomplished eight double lane changes to evade obstacles in their lane. Time-to-collision and traction usage were varied to establish different degrees of objective criticality. To manipulate these parameters as required, participants were triggered to take over control by an acoustic cue. This setting shows what might happen if drivers disable the automation and complete the maneuver themselves. The results of the experiment demonstrate that drivers rated objectively more critical driving situations as more critical and responded to the hazard very fast over all experimental conditions. However, their behavior was more extreme with respect to decelerating and steering than necessary. This impaired driving performance and increased the risk of lane departures and collisions. The results of the experiment can be used to develop an assistance system that supports driver-initiated take-overs.     

Against all odds – is a more differentiated view of personality development in emerging adulthood needed? The case of young apprentices

Personality development in emerging adults who do not attend college after high school has been largely overlooked so far. In this study, we investigated personality development in emerging German adults (N_T1 = 1,886, M_ageT1 = 18.01 years, 29% female) undergoing vocational education and training (VET). The trainees were assessed at the start of VET, 1.5 years later, and another 1.5 years after that, just before graduation. Longitudinal latent change score analyses were applied. Bivariate analyses investigated life satisfaction and job strain as social and work‐related aspects that are potentially reciprocally related to personality development. Mean‐level personality changes included increases in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in the first interval. In the second interval, neuroticism decreased and conscientiousness increased. Simultaneously, trainees reported a gradual decrease in extraversion and openness across the 3‐year time span. Personality, especially agreeableness and conscientiousness, emerged as a stronger predictor of changes in job strain and life satisfaction than vice versa. For example, more agreeable and more conscientious trainees subsequently showed increases in life satisfaction. Trainees reporting higher job strain subsequently showed decreases in agreeableness. Trajectories of personality development partly support the maturity principle that has been established in many college student samples.