Tuesday, March 10, 2026
12:10pm-1:30pm
MC 331
5 King's College Road
Speaker: Birsen Donmez
Location: MC331 (Mechanical Engineering Building, 5 King’s College Road, Room 331) and online
Title: Driver interactions with advanced vehicle technologies
To help us plan, please register at the below link:
https://shulab.mie.utoronto.ca/events/psycheng-seminar…dr-birsen-donmez/
Abstract: Today, vehicles are capable of detecting/reacting to hazards, maintaining speed and distance from surrounding vehicles, and assuming some or even all aspects of vehicle control. We have also seen the rise of sensor, wireless communication, and computing technology enabling the conduct of a variety of non-driving activities by the drivers. While these innovations enhance the driving experience in many ways and can support aspects of safety, certain implementations of technology create concerns around suboptimal monitoring of driving automation, inappropriate disengagement from driving, and lack of fitness to resume vehicle control. In this talk, Dr. Donmez will discuss these challenges and present a series of mixed method studies aimed to understand and improve driver behavior and coordination with advanced vehicle technologies. The focus will be on the skill of driver anticipation and how it can be supported through in-vehicle technologies, and driver training on advanced driver assistance systems.
Biography: Birsen Donmez is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering. Her research interests are centered on understanding and improving human operator behavior and performance in multi-task and complex situations, with primary applications in surface transportation and healthcare. Donmez’s selected honors include her Canada Research Chair Award and renewal (2015-2025), the Jerome J. Ely Human Factors Article Award (2023), an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement (2016-2019), and an Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation of Ontario (2015-2020). Donmez has served as the chair for the Human Factors of Vehicles Committee of the Transportation Research Board of the US National Academies, an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, an editorial board member for Accident Analysis and Prevention, and a steering committee member of the ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutomotiveUI).
To help us plan, please register at the below link:
https://shulab.mie.utoronto.ca/events/psycheng-seminar…dr-birsen-donmez/