Using momentary derivative estimates to gauge driver performance

Measurement of driver performance and the subsequent initiation of safety measures is of increasing interest to automotive manufactures and users. Many studies of driver performance are based on indicators that are likely to be difficult to collect in real-life conditions (e.g., lane position). These measures are easily measured in simulators, but may not be easily measured across a variety of road conditions (e.g., deterioration, roadwork, snow). To increase the possibility of implementing safety measures, the current paper examines the estimation of derivatives from in-vehicle measures of vehicle control such as steering wheel angle. At very short time scales (e.g., less than 1 second) many in-vehicle measures may be indicative of drivers who are making small corrections to their trajectories. Drivers making a large number of ongoing corrections may indicate characteristics such as fatigue and inattention. This paper compares derivative estimates to other common measures of driving performance and models changes in momentary derivative estimates in a 90- minute simulation with 19 participants.