Towards Consumer Acceptance of Cooperative Driving Systems: A Human-Centered Shared Steering Control Approach Within a Hierarchical Framework

As driver-automation cooperative driving systems become increasingly integrated into modern vehicles as consumer technologies and electronics, how to ensure consumer acceptance of these systems is a noteworthy consideration. This paper proposes a human-centered shared steering control method for cooperative driving systems, aimed at reducing driver-automation steering conflicts and enhancing driver acceptance by integrating human factors into each module of a hierarchical shared steering control framework. Specifically, the target path of the automated system is generated by a novel cooperative path planning algorithm based on driver intention recognition, artificial potential fields, and polynomial curve. Then, the path-following controller is developed based on model predictive control and an integrated driver-vehicle dynamic model. Next, a numerical function model is established to determine the driver’s control authority in real time with consideration of driving risk and intervention degree. Finally, several driver-in-the-loop experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness and superiority of proposed shared steering control approach. The subjective and objective evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed approach can minimize the degree of intervention in driver behavior while ensuring driving safety, thereby enhancing driver acceptance.