Driver training is one of the Trustonomy pillars being investigated in the project. It identifies and develops novel curricula for emerging driver training needs in the non-fully autonomous era. Trustonomy mission within this pillar is multi-track. On the one hand, the project focuses on the human being responsible for driving the vehicle. Hence, the goal is to raise awareness of the need to understand how systems should be properly used in order to achieve safe human-vehicle interaction. On the other hand, Trustonomy wants to draw the legislators’ attention to the need to adapt the training process to the changing reality. In this regard, it is necessary to change the perception of driving automation systems.
Within this context, a specific set of trial sessions are being conducted at TTS Finland facilities in Rajamäki.
The starting point consisted of a theoretical part of the training, led by the instructor: participants were trained on Autonomous Driving and HMI systems, and an ad hoc questionnaire on this was distributed and filled in.
All participants had the opportunity to use an e-learning platform, developed by one of the project partners ITS (Motor Transport Institute), to watch and interact with the embedded videos provided for the driver training.
The e-learning platform has been developed according to an expert-based analysis carried out in the project and aims to teach driving support systems in a simple and safe way. The content and materials used in the e-learning meet the criteria and the detailed map of competencies extracted within the project. The novelty behind the platform is its innovative form giving an opportunity to transfer both theoretical and semi-practical knowledge. A semi-automatic simulation imitates the operation of the automation system while getting the trainee actively involved in the driving task.
A practical part of the driver training followed, and participants had the possibility to test what they have learned, by driving trucks equipped with ADAS and HMI-systems.
Finally, both participants and the instructor completed an assessment questionnaire to evaluate the trainee’s driving performance.
Great interest was shown overall by participants for new technologies and the novel scenarios related to autonomous driving.
