Presentation
The Ergonomics and Cognitive Sciences for Transport Laboratory has set itself a single objective: to understand human beings and their activity in travel situations in order to provide safe mobility that is adapted to their needs.
To achieve this objective, two major themes have been defined for the medium and long term:
- The first area is entitled « Road Safety and Cognition » and corresponds to the ambition to make the work carried out in the field of road safety more visible at the level of the Gustave Eiffel University while highlighting the specificity of our research from a cognitive science perspective. This area covers all work aimed at understanding the activity of travelling in order to improve safety, for example by designing reliable and appropriate driver assistance systems. It also includes work on digital modelling of the driver and the virtual design of assistance systems.
- The second area is entitled « Health, Disability and Mobility ». This area includes research aimed at gaining a better understanding of the consequences of changes linked to normal or pathological ageing or disability on travel, whether driving, walking or using public transport. Although seemingly simple, these activities mobilise resources that can be overwhelmed in certain complex situations, entailing risks of accident or loss of autonomy.
These areas address social, road safety, transport psychology and health issues. They concern the safety of vulnerable road users such as cyclists and scooter users, who are increasingly present on the roads in both urban and rural areas. They deal with the development of automated vehicles and the consequences of these new modes of transport on mobility in terms of safety and acceptability, but also in terms of cognitive adaptation both with other non-automated vehicles and with pedestrians. The scientific themes address the issues of maintaining driving ability for the elderly and returning to driving for people with disabilities. Finally, they refine theoretical knowledge of the cognitive processes developed by users during travel in real or simulated situations.
The technical team is involved at every stage of the project, from the initial set-up of equipment and instrumentation, through support during experiments, to the acquisition and development of tools for data processing and analysis.