Modeling Steering Using the Queueing Network — Model Human Processor (QN-MHP)

Abstract

The Queueing Network — Model Human Processor (QN-MHP) is a computational architecture that combines the mathematical theories and simulation methods of queueing networks (QN) with the symbolic and procedure methods of a GOMS-style task description and the Model Human Processor (MHP). Using QN-MHP, a steering model was created to represent the concurrent perceptual, cognitive, and motor activities involved in vehicle steering as truly concurrent processes. The model was compared with driving performance of human subjects and demonstrated realistic steering behavior. It steered a simulated vehicle at a fixed speed within the lane boundaries of straight sections and curves of different radii. In a quantitative validation of several basic measures of driving performance, the steering model yielded steering angle and lateral position similar to the human subject data. This work showed the strength of QN-MHP as a model of driving behavior. Ongoing work further develops the model by expanding the scope of the driving task and by adding a concurrent secondary in-vehicle task.