Presenter
Tracy Lennertz
Biography
The Transportation Human Factors Division at the US DOT, Volpe Center, provides support across all forms of transport —including aviation, rail, buses, trucks, passenger cars, micromobility, and vulnerable road users —to understand and mitigate human factors issues, including the impact of mixed equipage on operator performance.
Across different forms of transport, research in the Transportation Human Factors Division at Volpe Center considers the knowledge, skills, and abilities training requirements along with the expectations that an operator might bring to an operational environment. This includes how the operator interacts with automated systems and potential unintended consequences of the automated functions on operator performance. In aviation, this research is used to inform the development of new procedures, and information that must be shared between all operators (pilots, operators of uncrewed aircraft, and Air Traffic Controllers) in the implementation of new technologies. For new entrants, such as Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), research needs to consider what an operator and air traffic controller will need to know about the automated UAS functions, what actions need to be taken to ensure a common understanding (between the operator and ATC) of UAS performance (see Cardosi & Lennertz, 2017). In surface transportation, there is often a difference between what information can be detected by an automated system and an operator (such as a driver). For example, an operator may be able to predict that the view of pedestrian might be occluded by a vehicle near a crosswalk (Pradhan et al., 2005), something that is currently not detected by an automated system. Human operators can become overconfident in such scenarios, believing wrongly that the automated system can detect what the driver can detect. How an operator may interact with automated systems can vary both within, and across, a vehicle (depending on the situation) and across modes. This variability may impact ease/frequency of use for new systems, training, and user confidence/trust.
At the US DOT, Volpe Center, we examine how operators interact with automated systems in the lab, using a variety of simulation capabilities, and in the field, in support of our modal sponsors to help realize the benefits of these technologies while minimizing adverse impacts.
References
Cardosi, K. & Lennertz, T. (2017). Human factors considerations for the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles in the National Airspace System: An analysis of reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). DOT‐VNTSC‐FAA‐17‐11.
Pradhan, A., Hammel, K., DeRamus, R., Pollatsek, A., Noyce D., & Fisher, D. (2005) Using eye movements to evaluate the effects of driver age on risk perception in a driving simulator. Human Factors, 47, 840-852.
Requested Speaker Biography
Tracy Lennertz, PhD is co-chief of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Transportation Human Factors Division, within the Safety Management and Human Factors Technical Center. She has been as the U.S. DOT Volpe Center since 2010, leading and conducting applied human factors research in transportation, including a multi-year portfolio examining the complexities of pilot-controller communications. She has more than 40 publications, spanning topics in human factors and research in experimental psychology. Lennertz received her PhD in Psychology from Northeastern University (Boston, MA), her master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL), and her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto (Mississauga, ON). She co-leads a multi-disciplinary team of human factors researchers—with a focus on improving transportation safety across modes, especially in aviation, automobiles, and trucks.
Across different forms of transport, research in the Transportation Human Factors Division at Volpe Center considers the knowledge, skills, and abilities training requirements along with the expectations that an operator might bring to an operational environment. This includes how the operator interacts with automated systems and potential unintended consequences of the automated functions on operator performance. In aviation, this research is used to inform the development of new procedures, and information that must be shared between all operators (pilots, operators of uncrewed aircraft, and Air Traffic Controllers) in the implementation of new technologies. For new entrants, such as Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), research needs to consider what an operator and air traffic controller will need to know about the automated UAS functions, what actions need to be taken to ensure a common understanding (between the operator and ATC) of UAS performance (see Cardosi & Lennertz, 2017). In surface transportation, there is often a difference between what information can be detected by an automated system and an operator (such as a driver). For example, an operator may be able to predict that the view of pedestrian might be occluded by a vehicle near a crosswalk (Pradhan et al., 2005), something that is currently not detected by an automated system. Human operators can become overconfident in such scenarios, believing wrongly that the automated system can detect what the driver can detect. How an operator may interact with automated systems can vary both within, and across, a vehicle (depending on the situation) and across modes. This variability may impact ease/frequency of use for new systems, training, and user confidence/trust.
At the US DOT, Volpe Center, we examine how operators interact with automated systems in the lab, using a variety of simulation capabilities, and in the field, in support of our modal sponsors to help realize the benefits of these technologies while minimizing adverse impacts.
References
Cardosi, K. & Lennertz, T. (2017). Human factors considerations for the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles in the National Airspace System: An analysis of reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). DOT‐VNTSC‐FAA‐17‐11.
Pradhan, A., Hammel, K., DeRamus, R., Pollatsek, A., Noyce D., & Fisher, D. (2005) Using eye movements to evaluate the effects of driver age on risk perception in a driving simulator. Human Factors, 47, 840-852.
Requested Speaker Biography
Tracy Lennertz, PhD is co-chief of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Transportation Human Factors Division, within the Safety Management and Human Factors Technical Center. She has been as the U.S. DOT Volpe Center since 2010, leading and conducting applied human factors research in transportation, including a multi-year portfolio examining the complexities of pilot-controller communications. She has more than 40 publications, spanning topics in human factors and research in experimental psychology. Lennertz received her PhD in Psychology from Northeastern University (Boston, MA), her master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL), and her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto (Mississauga, ON). She co-leads a multi-disciplinary team of human factors researchers—with a focus on improving transportation safety across modes, especially in aviation, automobiles, and trucks.
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