Evaluation of a combined brake-accelerator pedal

Over the years, designers have developed various combined brake-accelerator pedals in an effort to eliminate the operator's risk of pressing the wrong pedal as well as to reduce his or her reaction time in braking. The goal of this study is to highlight problems that drivers may face when they switch between pedal systems. Eighteen male and female drivers varying in age participated in the study. The evaluation was carried out during special driving maneuvers and in normal traffic in which all drivers used the same test vehicle. The results indicate that drivers were able to learn the new combined pedal mechanism quickly and effortlessly and that the number of mistakes was extremely low during the acquisition phase in learning the new system. The drivers reported that they preferred the combined brake-accelerator pedal to the conventional pedals, noting that the combined pedal offered greater physical comfort and was considerably more natural to operate. Because of the risk of compensation, whereby increased safety is forfeited as a result of reduced safety margins, future experiments of the new combined pedal are desirable.