New Requirements for Modelling How Humans Succeed and Fail in Complex Traffic Scenarios

In this text aspects of human decision making in complex traffic environments are described and requirements for cognitive models that shall be used as virtual test pilots or test drivers for new assistance concepts are derived. Assistance systems are an accepted means to support humans in complex traffic environments. There is a growing consensus that cognitive models can be used to test systems from a human factors perspective. The text describes the current state of cognitive architectures and argues that though very relevant achievements have been realized some important characteristics of human decision making have so far been neglected: humans use environment and time dependent heuristics. An extension of the typical cognitive cycle prevalent in extant models is suggested.