Effect of background scene complexity and field dependence on the legibility of head-up displays for automotive applications

Taxonomy of Mitigation Strategies for Driver Distraction

Driver distraction can be described as the diversion of driver's attention from the primary task of driving and is one of the most common causes of crashes. Complex technologies that have either been introduced to the driving domain or are planned to be, raise the concern of high levels of distraction, by placing additional demands on drivers. Different mitigation strategies (e.g., warning and vehicle control) have been implemented in the vehicle to reduce driver distraction. However there has not been a clear definition or categorization of these strategies. This paper, therefore, proposes a taxonomy of mitigation strategies for driver distraction and relates the strategies to accumulated research in the areas of automation and adaptive aiding to define important design tradeoffs with each strategy. This taxonomy provides a framework that can guide research and address the driver distraction problem systematically.

Fifty years of driving safety research

OBJECTIVE

This brief review covers the 50 years of driving-related research published in Human Factors, its contribution to driving safety, and emerging challenges.

BACKGROUND

Many factors affect driving safety, making it difficult to assess the impact of specific factors such as driver age, cell phone distractions, or collision warnings.

METHOD

The author considers the research themes associated with the approximately 270 articles on driving published in Human Factors in the past 50 years.

RESULTS

To a large extent, current and past research has explored similar themes and concepts. Many articles published in the first 25 years focused on issues such as driver impairment, individual differences, and perceptual limits. Articles published in the past 25 years address similar issues but also point toward vehicle technology that can exacerbate or mitigate the negative effect of these issues. Conceptual and computational models have played an important role in this research.

CONCLUSION

Improved crash-worthiness has contributed to substantial improvements in driving safety over the past 50 years, but future improvements will depend on enhancing driver performance and perhaps, more important, improving driver behavior. Developing models to guide this research will become more challenging as new technology enters the vehicle and shifts the focus from driver performance to driver behavior.

APPLICATION

Over the past 50 years, Human Factors has accumulated a large base of driving-related research that remains relevant for many of today's design and policy concerns.

Influence of age, speed and duration of monotonous driving task in traffic on the driver's useful visual field

Recent research has shown that the useful visual field deteriorates in simulated car driving when the latter can induce a decrease in the level of activation. The first aim of this study was to verify if the same phenomenon occurs when driving is performed in a simulated road traffic situation. The second aim was to discover if this field also deteriorates as a function of the driver's age and of the vehicle's speed. Nine young drivers (from 22 to 34 years) and nine older drivers (from 46 to 59 years) followed a vehicle in road traffic during two two-hour sessions. The car-following task involved driving at 90 km.h(-1) (speed limit on road in France) in one session and at 130 km.h(-1) (speed limit on motorway in France) in the other session. While following the vehicle, the driver had to detect the changes in colour of a luminous signal located in the central part of his/her visual field and a visual signal that appeared at different eccentricities on the rear lights of the vehicles in the traffic. The analysis of the data indicates that the useful visual field deteriorates with the prolongation of the monotonous simulated driving task, with the driver's age and with the vehicle's speed. The results are discussed in terms of general interference and tunnel vision.

Analysis of the deformation of the useful visual field: a comment on Rantanen (2003)

In the study of variables which may affect peripheral visual perception are several ways of assessing deterioration of this perception. One is evaluation of deformation of the useful visual field. Two techniques of analysis have been considered, by calculation of deformation indices, as proposed by Rantanen in 2003 and by carrying out an elliptical interpolation from the location within the visual field of signals perceived by a subject. This latter means, proposed by Rogé in 2002, enables description of whole field with the aid of two parameters. Comparison of the two techniques clarifies their advantages and disadvantages.

Eye-position effects in directional hearing

The influence of gaze direction on azimuthal sound localization was investigated by presenting free-field acoustical stimuli in combination with a visual fixation task. In Experiment 1, a two-alternative forced-choice method was employed. While fixating visual targets, subjects judged whether noise bursts, presented from various directions, were perceived as being on the left or right of either a visual reference indicating straight ahead or the subjective straight-ahead direction. The psychometric functions measured with the first task shifted consistently opposite to the direction of eccentric gaze, i.e., the location of the auditory stimulus was perceived as shifted toward the direction of gaze. The mean magnitude of the shift was 4.7 degrees over a range of fixation angles up to 45 degrees on either side. Without an external reference indicating straight ahead, shifts of sound localization were inconsistent, either opposite or toward the direction of fixation in individual subjects. In Experiment 2, subjects orientated their head toward sound stimuli while fixating visual targets in various directions. As in Experiment 1, head position as a measure of sound localization shifted significantly toward the direction of eccentric gaze when a visual reference of the head median plane was present, and the results were inconsistent across subjects when it was absent. The results indicate a significant effect of gaze direction on the spatial agreement of auditory and visual perception which may be based on the superposition of distinct auditory and visual eye-position effects. The effect is in agreement with previous neurophysiological results that have suggested an incomplete neural transformation of auditory spatial coordinates from a craniocentric into an oculocentric frame of reference.