Humans and Autonomous Vehicles

This book provides an introduction to the Human Centred Design of autonomous vehicles for professionals and students.

While rapid progress is being made in the field of autonomous road vehicles the majority of actions and the research address the technical challenges, with little attention to the physical, perceptual, cognitive and emotional needs of humans. This book fills a gap in the knowledge by providing an easily understandable introduction to the needs and desires of people in relation to autonomous vehicles. The book is "human centred design" led, adding an important human perspective to the primarily technology-driven debates about autonomous vehicles. It combines knowledge from fields ranging from linguistics to electrical engineering to provide a holistic, multidisciplinary overview of the issues affecting the interactions between autonomous vehicles and people. It emphasises the constraints and requirements that a human centred perspective necessitates, giving balanced information about the potential conflicts between technical and human factors. The book provides a helpful introduction to the field of design ethics, to enhance the reader’s awareness and understanding of the multiple ethical issues involved in autonomous vehicle design.

Written as an accessible guide for design practitioners and students, this will be a key read for those interested in the psychological, sociological and ethical factors involved in automotive design, human centred design, industrial design and technology.

Joseph Giacomin is a professor of Human Centred Design at Brunel University, London, UK, where he performs research leading to products, systems and services which are physically, perceptually, cognitively and emotionally intuitive. He has worked for both the American military and the European automobile industry. He has produced more than 120 publications including the books Automotive Human Centred Design Methods and Thermal – Seeing the World Through 21st Century Eyes. He has been a member of the editorial boards of Ergonomics and the International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration (IJVNV). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF), a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a member of the Associazione Per Il Disegno Industriale (ADI) and a member of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS).