Investigating User Accepted Interaction Concepts for Autonomous Mining Vehicles : A Design Process for Developing and Validating a Human-Machine Interaction Concept based on User Needs

Sammanfattning: As autonomous vehicles (AVs) are introduced in mining settings, mine workers must adapt to a new type of workflow. This thesis presents how a design process for developing and validating a user accepted Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) concept in an autonomous mining environment can be performed. Through concept development based on user needs, the project explores the design space of what makes a well-received interaction concept according to the mine worker. Multiple mining scenarios are investigated and evaluated based on their HMI complexity before concepts are produced for one specific loading scenario between a loader and a dumper truck, working as a baseline scenario for comparison. The explorative design process consists of a range of methods that describe the concept development for an autonomous integration to this baseline loading scenario. The methodology is user-centred and involve both expert-users and non-expert users for evaluation throughout the process and the factors user acceptance and trust are constantly considered. At last, the final concept is validated with the mine workers following the modified Technology of Acceptance Model (mTAM) to evaluate the level of perceived Usefulness, perceived Ease-of-Use and perceived Preservation of Craftsmanship. It also gives an indication of how effective the design process is.  It is found that a suitable autonomous integration to the baseline scenario is the meeting between a manual loader and an AV dumper, due to the high level of HMI complexity based on the number of steps and difficulties when two vehicles need cooperation to complete the scenario. The concept development for this resulted in a concept consisting of a touch-based tablet in the loader cabin with complementary physical buttons, a voice assistant for natural communication and an external Human-Machine Interface (eHMI) that share the AV’s intentions and system status for increased trust and reliability. The mTAM user validation received a low number of end-user participants (7) and hence, conclusion cannot be drawn from the results. Although, the proposed final concept scored an average of 2.83/5 for perceived Usefulness, 3.83/5 for perceived Ease-of-Use and 4.21/5 for Preservation of Craftsmanship, showing a tendency that the completed design process resulted in a concept that has potential to find user acceptance and trust.