Presentation
Impact of Levels of Automation on Pilot Monitoring Behavior in Simulated eVTOL Operations
SessionWednesday Poster Session
DescriptionThis research investigated the impact of the level of automation (LOA) on pilot cognition in a simulated Urban Air Mobility flight context. Thirty-one FAA-rated pilots (average flight hours = 413.12; SD = 745.79) completed four instrument landing approaches in a simulated BETA-Alia eVTOL aircraft powered by X-Plane 12. LOA was manipulated as either semi-automated, in which pilots commanded autopilot to complete flight tasks, or highly-automated, in which an artificially intelligent agent completed the approach, and pilots only monitored. Operational circumstances were also manipulated as either nominal, (i.e., instrument meteorological conditions with no visual reference to the runway at the decision altitude) or off-nominal (i.e., air traffic control unexpectedly canceled the landing clearance). Eye tracking data revealed that pilots in the highly-automated LOA had significantly fewer fixations on primary instruments and significantly more fixations on secondary instruments, such as the flight plan and moving map. Further, off-nominal circumstances also influenced how pilots allocated their attention. These findings suggest that, in eVTOL operations, increased automation may leave pilots with residual attentional capacity to monitor secondary information, but may come at a cost to overall monitoring, leading to potential vigilance decrements, out-of-the-loop effects, and attention disruption in the presence of off-nominal circumstances.
Event Type
Poster
TimeWednesday, October 21st5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
Location