Maintaining a Sense of Control in Autonomous Vehicles via Auditory Feedback

This paper presents the findings from an observational field study conducted with 8 car drivers. The study attempted to create a taxonomy of sounds that present information to people whilst driving. We also aimed to determine whether participants noticed these sounds as they occurred and whether they paid attention to them. Furthermore, we asked the participants subjective questions regarding particular sonic attributes and their ability to catch driver’s attention. It was concluded that although certain sounds occur regularly, differing levels of attention are given to each depending on the information they present. Our study also revealed that while all sonic attributes play an impact in catching driver’s attention, some aspects are more noticeable than others. We conclude with a discussion of our future directions with regards to the findings obtained from our observational field study and outline the plan for our next study.