Can EEG Measurements be Used to Estimate the Performance of Taking over Control from an Autonomous Vehicle for Different Levels of Distracted Driving? An Explorative Study

Driver distraction is a concern for traffic safety. Most research has been focused on validating or quantifying the relationship between eyes-off-road metrics and driving performance without specifically addressing cognitive aspects of distracted driving. The current study explores to what extent electroencephalogram data is a good predictor of how successful a distracted driver will be able to take over control from an autonomous vehicle. Participants were driving a simulated car while being exposed to varying levels of distraction. During the ride at several moments the participants were warned to take over control, after which the control was transferred. Sometimes after taking over the control an immediate break action of the drivers was expected. It turned out that electroencephalogram based data is able to indicate to what extent participants are distracted. However, electroencephalogram based data is not able to estimate driving performance during take over control.