Assessment of the New Digital Side Mirror Technology from Driver’s Subjective Point of View Considering Traffic Safety

Abstract

The automotive industry is experiencing an era of technological innovations from conventional passenger cars, trucks to agricultural machinery. Digital side mirror technology is one of the latest topics in the field of advanced driver assistance systems which is developing rapidly. This study evaluates the applicability of digital side mirror technology in the car interior, based on drivers’ feedbacks. The research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire to determine the drivers’ reactions and affinity to new technology, based on personal experience gained in simulated traffic and also in real traffic situations. The data obtained from this research were then subjected to Pearson’s Chi-squared test to evaluate the drivers’ dependence and comfort with the digital side mirror technology. Subsequently, mainly statistically significant dependencies in the preferences of individual drivers were sought due to their personal and anthropometric parameters. The results published in this study can be used mainly to understand the process by which drivers form an opinion on new technology which may be key to their further stance on the technology and may also affect the commercial success of digital mirror technology during their involvement in serial production.

Comparison of Accommodation Speed and Reading Accuracy for Conventional and Digital Rear-View Mirrors with Emphasis on Overall Traffic Safety

“…It has been shown that the use of digital mirror technology can have a direct negative effect on road safety, especially in combination with other negative effects given by the technical nature of the technology under investigation, such as image latency in digital displays. These negative phenomena can further be combined with the driver´s attitude, given by his cognitive functions (Babu et al, 2022).…”

“…Repeated and prolonged forced visual accommodation can lead to a deterioration of accommodative amplitude (Sullivan, 2008). The need to use visual accommodation is one of the essential differences between conventional rear-view mirrors and digital rear-view mirrors (Babu et al, 2022). Due to the physical nature of the optical system, it is not necessary to use visual accommodation with conventional rear-view mirrors, and the driver basically always focuses on the same distance (practically to infinity).…”

“…Important factors that were not simulated in laboratory conditions for operational and safety reasons are, for example, variable external lighting, variable meteorological conditions, or, possibly, vibrations due to the movement of the vehicle on an imperfectly level road. However, it is evident that real conditions would further deepen the above-mentioned differences between conventional and digital mirrors, which is also mentioned by another study dealing with the usability of digital mirrors in passenger vehicles (Babu et al, 2022). The use of digital mirrors in vehicles is still a relatively new area of research and much work needs to be done to understand their potential benefits and limitations.…”

“…Some published studies (Large et al, 2016;Babu et al, 2022) report both the positives and negatives of using digital rear-view mirrors. However, in their studies, they only used the conventional display of information provided by the camera.…”

Key Considerations in Assessing the Safety and Performance of Camera-Based Mirror Systems

“…Additionally, these systems can provide features such as distance measurement, object detection, and warning systems that can improve safety and reduce the risk of accidents [21,22]. Moreover, depending on the design, CBMSs may be more aerodynamically efficient than traditional mirrors, which can improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions [23,24,31]. Furthermore, these systems can be more compact and less obtrusive than traditional mirrors, which can improve the aesthetic appeal of vehicles and reduce wind noise [24].…”