DRIVE-BY-WIRE SYSTEMS - SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE TREND TO AUTOMATE THEDRIVER ROLE

The purpose of this paper is to review critically the current trend in automobile engineering toward automation of many of the functions pre viously performed by the driver. Working on the assumption that automa tion in aviation represents the basic model for driver automation, the costs and benefits of automation in aviation are explored as a means of establishing where automation of drivers' tasks is likely to yield benefits. It is concluded that there are areas where automation can pr ovide benefits to the driver, but there are other areas where this is unlikely to be the case. Automation per se does not guarantee success, and therefore it becomes vital to involve human factors into design t o identify where automation of driver functions can be allocated with a beneficial outcome for driving performance.