Shannon Roberts

Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Amherst MA

Shannon Roberts is an expert in understanding how technology and infrastructure guide the design of driver-vehicle interactions.

Contact

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Expertise

Technology and driving behavior
Young drivers' behavior
Smart Communities and Infrastructure
Driving behavior

Biography

Shannon Roberts is associate director of the New England University Transportation Center and a human factors engineer who studies and evaluates the interaction between humans and systems within the domain of transportation safety.

Her research is focused on three areas: studying and improving young drivers’ behavior, developing feedback and warning systems to improve driving behavior and examining how advanced technology and driving automation systems alter driver behavior.

Social Media

Video

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ph.D.

Industrial and Systems Engineering

University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.S.

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S.

Mechanical Engineering

Select Recent Media Coverage

You can help teens become better drivers

WWLP-TV  tv

2024-10-30

Shannon Roberts is interviewed about teen driver safety. “At UMass, we have a laboratory called the Human Performance Laboratory … and we’ve been working on developing a series of training programs … teaching teens these skills beyond just how do you maneuver the car and keep it in the lane,” Roberts says.

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UMass researchers studying safety, efficacy of self-driving vehicles

Western Mass News  tv

2024-04-29

Shannon Roberts, associate professor in mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass Amherst, took Western Mass News on a tour of the campus human performance lab driving simulator and explained her research studying driver behaviors and response time in self-driving vehicles.

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How the role of truck drivers will change with the increase in automated trucks

SiriusXM Road Dog Trucking  radio

2023-11-29

Shannon Roberts, is interviewed on commercial satellite radio about a nearly $2 million grant to study how the role of truck drivers will change with the increase in automated trucks by involving truckers in the process. “Some are embracing the technology, welcoming it into the vehicle with an appreciation for how it can improve safety, reduce crashes, reduce injuries,” Roberts says. “Then, on the flip side … you have people who oppose the technology, usually with this understanding that if the technology is in my vehicle, and in particular if I drive for a living, then this is threatening my livelihood.”

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Select Publications

Even hands-free, phones and their apps cause dangerously distracted driving

The Conversation

Shannon Roberts

2024-04-03

"Most U.S. states ban hand-held cellphone use while driving but allow hands-free devices. However, hands-free devices are still distracting. Talking on a hands-free phone and driving is multitasking, and humans are not good at doing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time."

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Frequency and Quality of Exposure to Adaptive Cruise Control and Impact on Trust, Workload, and Mental Models

Accident Analysis & Prevention

2023

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) support drivers with some driving tasks. However, drivers may lack appropriate knowledge about ADAS resulting in inadequate mental models. This may result in drivers misusing ADAS, or mistrusting the technologies, especially after encountering edge-case events (situations beyond the capability of an ADAS where the system may malfunction or fail) and may also adversely affect driver workload. Literature suggests mental models could be improved through exposure to ADAS-related driving situations, especially those related to ADAS capabilities and limitations.

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The effect of driving style on responses to unexpected vehicle cyberattacks

Safety

2023

Vehicle cybersecurity is a serious concern, as modern vehicles are vulnerable to cyberattacks. How drivers respond to situations induced by vehicle cyberattacks is safety critical. This paper sought to understand the effect of human drivers’ risky driving style on response behavior to unexpected vehicle cyberattacks. A driving simulator study was conducted wherein 32 participants experienced a series of simulated drives in which unexpected events caused by vehicle cyberattacks were presented. Participants’ response behavior was assessed by their change in velocity after the cybersecurity events occurred, their post-event acceleration, as well as time to first reaction.

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