Automation and the Human Factors Race to Catch Up

Automation has been rapidly developing into a pervasive part of our every day lives. Although I agree with Kaber’s original article, I argue that human factors as a discipline is not keeping up with the pace of technological change. Human factors researchers must rapidly embrace the development of richer automation models, more complex laboratory studies, and naturalistic studies in the field to generate relevant insights into human automation interaction. The corresponding development of massive data collection presents an opportunity for a more data-driven approach to understanding human automation interaction and human factors in general