TASCC: Driver-Cognition-Oriented Optimal Control Authority Shifting for Adaptive Automated Driving (CogShift)

A driver and an automated vehicle will soon need to hand control back and forth dozens of times during a single journey, and each handover risks a dangerous mismatch between what the human expects and what the car does. Current automated driving systems treat the driver as a passive monitor who can instantly retake control. That assumption is wrong. When a person has been disengaged from driving—reading, texting, or daydreaming—their attention and cognitive control do not snap back in a fraction of a second. The gap between the car’s demand and the driver’s readiness creates a safety risk. This project addresses that gap by studying exactly how a driver’s attention and cognitive control change during automated driving, then building a system that shifts control authority based on the driver’s actual cognitive state, not on a fixed timer. If successful, the research could change how every production vehicle handles the transition between automated and manual driving. Instead of abrupt handovers that surprise the driver, future cars might delay a transfer until the driver is cognitively ready, or take over more gradually. The work also advances fundamental science: it will produce new understanding of how human attention and cognitive control function when people interact with automation, a question that extends beyond cars to aviation, manufacturing, and any system where humans and machines share control.