Designing in-car emotion-aware automation

Driver behaviour recognition is of paramount importance for in-car automation assistance. It is widely recognized that not only attentional states, but also emotional ones have an impact on the safety of the driving behaviour. This research work proposes an emotion-aware in-car architecture where it is possible to adapt driver’s emotions to the vehicle dynamics, investigating the correlations between negative emotional states and driving performances, and suggesting a system to regulate the driver’s engagement through a unique user experience (e.g. using music, LED lighting) in the car cabin. The relationship between altered emotional states induced through auditory stimuli and vehicle dynamics is investigated in a driving simulator. The results confirm the need for both types of information to improve the robustness of the driver state recognition function and open up the possibility that auditory stimuli can modify driving performance somehow.