VERIFICATION OF VEHICLE OPERATOR AWARENESS BEFORE TRANSITION FROM AUTONOMOUS-MODE TO MANUAL-MODE

A system for operating a vehicle includes an object-detector, and operator-monitor, and a controller. The object-detector is used to detect one or more targets proximate to a host-vehicle, said host-vehicle operable in an autonomous-mode and a manual-mode. The operator-monitor is used to detect a gaze-direction of an operator of the host-vehicle. The controller-circuit is in communication with the object-detector and the operator-monitor. The controller-circuit is configured to determine a classification of each target detected by the object-detector. The classification includes a primary-target and an ignored-target. The controller-circuit is further configured to determine that a hand-over of operation of the host-vehicle from the autonomous-mode to the manual-mode is recommended, perform a verification that the operator has gazed at each primary-target more recently than a primary-time, and in response to the verification, execute the hand-over.