How drivers perform under different scenarios: Ability-related driving style extraction for large-scale dataset

Abstract

The extraction and analysis of driving style are essential for a comprehensive understanding of human driving behaviours. Most existing studies rely on subjective questionnaires and specific experiments, posing challenges in accurately capturing authentic characteristics of group drivers in naturalistic driving scenarios. As scenario-oriented naturalistic driving data collected by advanced sensors becomes increasingly available, the application of data-driven methods allows for a exhaustive analysis of driving styles across multiple drivers. Following a theoretical differentiation of driving ability, driving performance, and driving style with essential clarifications, this paper proposes a quantitative determination method grounded in large-scale naturalistic driving data. Initially, this paper defines and derives driving ability and driving performance through trajectory optimisation modelling considering various cost indicators. Subsequently, this paper proposes an objective driving style extraction method grounded in the Gaussian mixture model. In the experimental phase, this study employs the proposed framework to extract both driving abilities and performances from the Waymo motion dataset, subsequently determining driving styles. This determination is accomplished through the establishment of quantifiable statistical distributions designed to mirror data characteristics. Furthermore, the paper investigates the distinctions between driving styles in different scenarios, utilising the Jensen-Shannon divergence and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The empirical findings substantiate correlations between driving styles and specific scenarios, encompassing both congestion and non-congestion as well as intersection and non-intersection scenarios.

Keywords: Driving style; Gaussian mixture model; Jensen–Shannon divergence; Large-scale dataset; Traffic scenario.