Contact-analog warnings on windshield displays promote monitoring the road scene

Abstract

Drivers attend to a lot of information at various locations inside and outside the car as well as on external devices (e.g. smart phones). Head-Up Displays (HUDs) support keeping drivers' visual focus directed towards the street; as they present virtual information in the windshield area on top of the physical world within the field of view of the driver. Displayed information, however, is often spatially dissociated with its cause in the physical world: for example a warning is displayed, yet drivers still require time searching for the hazard causing it. Windshield displays (WSDs) allow virtual warnings being displayed at the position of the hazard. We compared HUD and WSD with the baseline no-display and found that drivers demonstrate a calm gaze behavior with WSDs; they keep their visual attention in average 1.5 s longer focused on the leading car. However, we also found no significant faster reaction time compared to HUDs. We discuss our findings comparing HUDs to WSDs, present potential limitations of our study and point out future steps in order to further investigate the advantages of WSDs.

T9+hud

“…We evaluated T9+HUD in an experimental study in a driving simulator. Previous studies have used similar setup and the same driving simulator software [10]. Furthermore, despite empirical studies show that a driving simulator may have low resemblance with real-world driving, even low-fidelity simulators can have high predictive and comparative validity [26].…”

Building Trust in Autonomous Vehicles: Role of Virtual Reality Driving Simulators in HMI Design

“…On average, the UX was satisfactory for both the interfaces, and the information provided by the HUD was considered useful (SEL M=4. 16 As shown in Fig. 8, prior to the experiment all participants were mildly optimistic, but after experiencing the OMN HUD, attitude towards the technology markedly improved (M=4.0 vs. M=4.68, p=.002).…”

“…Studies have consistently shown that HUDs result in a better driving experience and performance than HDDs, leading to shorter reaction times [12], decreased cognitive load [13], and fewer driving errors [5], [14]; HUDs are also preferred by users against both HDDs and HMDs [5]. Augmented Reality HUDs (AR-HUDs) have been found especially effective in increasing the driver's intuitive cognition [15] and promoting a safer and more effective driving behavior, particularly in demanding driving situations [16], [17]. Given the technical difficulties in realizing AR-HUDs, current displays often come in the form of prototypes, concepts or demonstration videos.…”

A Design Space to Support the Development of Windshield Applications for the Car

“…In contrast, the WSD offers a lot of space to either display simple information large enough to make them perceptible, even with the limited peripheral perceptional abilities [49] (e.g. ambient information), or is actually meant to attain the driver's attention and lead it towards a hazard [47]. Of course, peripheral perception can be highly distracting and therefore needs to be used and designed carefully (see Haeuslschmid [46,47] for a discussion).…”

“…ambient information), or is actually meant to attain the driver's attention and lead it towards a hazard [47]. Of course, peripheral perception can be highly distracting and therefore needs to be used and designed carefully (see Haeuslschmid [46,47] for a discussion).…”