Simulation of Automotive Security Threat Warnings to Analyze Driver Interpretations and Emotional Transitions

With the evolution of cars into complex electronic-mechanical systems and related increasing relevance of electronic manipulation and malicious attacks on automotive IT, Security warnings are becoming also more important. This paper presents the findings regarding the potential effect of IT security warnings in vehicles. Different warning approaches were designed and analyzed in driving simulator tests, based upon three representative IT security threats and three variations of the information quantity and recommended action. The potential effect of these warnings was measured using three scenarios, including the simulated consequences, e.g. sudden swerve of vehicle. We analyzed the implications on drivers reaction, task performance, thoughts and emotions to derive the stress level. We found a positive effect of given recommendations due to the lack of security awareness in automotive IT, accompanied by a high variety of warnings cause interpretations. Especially without given recommendation a higher rate of ignorance was observed, leading to accidents.