Preliminary evaluation of variables for communicating uncertainties using a Haptic seat

Recent findings have indicated that the communication of uncertainties is a promising approach for overcoming human factors challenges associated with overtrust issues. The existing approaches, however, are limited in that they require operators to monitor the instrument cluster to perceive changes. As a consequence, significant changes may be missed and operators are regularly interrupted in the execution of non-driving related tasks even if the system is performing well. To overcome this, unobtrusive interfaces are required that are only interruptive if needed. This paper presents a lab-based study aiming at the preliminary evaluation of haptic variables for communicating automation uncertainties using a haptic vehicle seat. The initial results indicate that particularly increases in amplitude as well as a rhythm consisting of long vibrations separated by short breaks are well suited for communicating the exceedance of specified uncertainty thresholds. The communication of decreases in uncertainty using vibration cannot be recommended.