Driver behavior following an automatic steering intervention

•Initial driver behavior following an automatic steering intervention of a collision mitigation system was investigated in a driving simulator.•Following the first drive, about half of the participants reacted by braking.•Additionally, the majority of drivers showed a strong reaction on the steering wheel and either held the steering wheel strongly or counter-steered.•After the first drive only a very small number of participants were aware of the system steering intervention.•During a second exposure of a collision situation in which participants were instructed to hold the steering wheel loosely, significantly less drivers held the steering wheel strongly. The study investigated driver behavior toward an automatic steering intervention of a collision mitigation system. Forty participants were tested in a driving simulator and confronted with an inevitable collision. They performed a naïve drive and afterwards a repeated exposure in which they were told to hold the steering wheel loosely. In a third drive they experienced a false alarm situation. Data on driving behavior, i.e. steering and braking behavior as well as subjective data was assessed in the scenarios. Results showed that most participants held on to the steering wheel strongly or counter-steered during the system intervention during the first encounter. Moreover, subjective data collected after the first drive showed that the majority of drivers was not aware of the system intervention. Data from the repeated drive in which participants were instructed to hold the steering wheel loosely, led to significantly more participants holding the steering wheel loosely and thus complying with the instruction. This study seems to imply that without knowledge and information of the system about an upcoming intervention, the most prevalent driving behavior is a strong reaction with the steering wheel similar to an automatic steering reflex which decreases the system's effectiveness. Results of the second drive show some potential for countermeasures, such as informing drivers shortly before a system intervention in order to prevent inhibiting reactions.