The Importance of Flexible Automation in Simulated Submarine Track Management: Balancing Performance Under Normal and Failed Conditions

This study examined the importance of flexible automation in a simulated submarine track management task, aiming at balancing performance under both normal and failed conditions with two experiments. Experiment 1 shows that more “balanced” degree of automation (DOA) outperformed manual control and yielded better situation awareness (SA) and takeover performance than high DOA. Experiment 2 demonstrates that adjusting from excessively high to balanced DOA improved SA and takeover performance, while adjusting from excessively low to balanced DOA enhanced performance and reduced mental workload under the normal condition without impairing takeover performance. In summary, extreme DOAs disrupted the performance balance across the normal and failed conditions, while timely shifts to a balanced DOA restore it and balance overall performance. These findings underscore the importance of flexible automation for balancing performance under normal and failed conditions.