Driver De-Skilling and its Effect for Safety in Autonomous Driving

Semi-automated vehicles allow drivers to conduct other activities in the vehicle, such as reading a book. In case
of an emergency, the vehicle might induce a handover. This may happen in cases which are not manageable for
the automated system. It requires the driver to take over and resolve the situation in sub-optimal, complex, and
potentially dangerous situations. As a result of a lack of frequent driving, drivers may no longer possess the
skills to do so. This phenomenon is also known as one of the ironies of automation (Bainbridge, 1983). We target
the question how de-skilling will affect driving capabilities of drivers and how we can support the skill loss. In
an online study, we showed a dominance of initial skilling over de-skilling effects. In interviews with pilots, we
identified strategies against de-skilling in aviation for adaptation in the automotive domain. We show that initial
driver education, repeated transition training, increased situation awareness, constant mode awareness,
calibrating trust, and assigning responsibility are important factors for safe automated driving.