Ricerc@Sapienza

Due to the high social, economic and image costs associated with every single incident, the first in-depth studies on the importance of the Human Factor (HF) have been carried out since the 70s in the field of aviation, both military and civilian, and in the nuclear field. To date there are several methodologies by which it is possible to estimate the human error probability. However, all these techniques have the disadvantage of not being able to analyse the unconscious component involved.

Car driving is considered a very complex activity, consisting of different concomitant tasks and subtasks, thus it is crucial to understand the impact of different factors, such as road complexity, traffic, dashboard devices, and external events on the driver’s behavior and performance. For this reason, in particular situations the cognitive demand experienced by the driver could be very high, inducing an excessive experienced mental workload and consequently an increasing of error commission probability.

Car driving is a complex activity, consisting of an integrated multi-task behavior and requiring different interrelated skills. Over the last years, the number of Advanced Driver Assistance systems integrated into cars has grown exponentially. So it is very important to evaluate the interaction between these devices and drivers in order to study if they can represent an additional source of driving-related distraction.