729 research outputs found
Sort by
Capturing Driver Response to In-Vehicle Human-Machine Interface Technologies Using Facial Thermography
Get PDFMeasuring driver response to in-vehicle human-machine interface (HMI) systems is critical for the automotive design and evaluation process. Physiological measures provide a useful complement to performance-based and subjective measures because they promise an estimate of the affective response of drivers to an in-vehicle system in a way that requires no overt response by the driver. This research explored how facial temperature might reflect the drivers’ response to the demands they confront when interacting with in-vehicle systems. Sixteen drivers completed a series of in-vehicle tasks while driving in a simulator. Facial temperature was measured using an infrared camera. The analyses focus on how the thermal data, aggregated over four facial regions, correlated with both measures of driving performance and subjective ratings of workload and frustration. Facial temperature measures correlated with more driving performance measures of longitudinal control than lateral control, suggesting that thermal measures are sensitive to different cognitive processes than are typically assessed by measures of steering and lane position. Thermal measures aggregated over a 15-second window correlated with subjective ratings. Unlike other measures typically used to evaluate in-vehicle systems that are aggregated over long time windows, thermal measures have temporal specificity and might be able to identify specific interactions that increase workload and frustration. No single facial area or summary measure emerged as the best indicator of driver response; rather, composite measures of facial temperature could be developed that offer a more complete profile of driver response
A Recording and Analysis System of Bioptic Driving Behaviors
Get PDFMillions of visually impaired people do not drive because they fail to meet the general vision requirements. There is a legal option in 38 US states where people with moderate central vision loss (e.g. visual acuity better than 20/200) may be permitted to drive while wearing spectacle-mounted bioptic telescopes. However, the safety of bioptic driving is still highly controversial, because bioptic use in driving is not well understood. Whether and how bioptic telescopes are actually used in driving, how they should be used appropriately, and whether their use results in better or worse driving performance has never been scientifically established. We are developing an in-car camera system that can be installed in bioptic drivers’ own vehicles to record their daily driving activities over long periods of time. Videos of the driver and traffic, GPS coordinates, XYZ acceleration, and vehicle black box data are recorded. We are also developing computer-aided reviewing techniques to automatically identify the most informative driving segments from the vast amount of data and, reconstruct the selected driving maneuvers on an interactive interface, so that these representative segments can be assessed off-line by driver evaluation and training specialists
Aging and the Detection of Collision Events in Fog
Get PDFThe current study investigated age-related differences in the detection of collision events in fog. Observers were presented with displays simulating an object moving towards a driver at a constant speed and linear trajectory. The observers’ task was to detect whether the object would collide with them. Fog and display duration of the object were manipulated. We found that performance decreased when fog was simulated for older but not for younger observers. An age-related decrement was also found with shorter display durations. These results suggest that under poor weather conditions with reduced visibility, such as fog, older drivers may have increased accident risk due to decreased ability to detect impending collision events
Normative Values for Driving Simulation Parameters: A Pilot Study
Get PDFIn this pilot study, data obtained from a population of healthy younger (18-24 yrs), middle aged (25-64 yrs) and older drivers (65+ yrs) were used to establish normative values of parameters commonly documented during simulated driving. The older drivers’ performances in most of the driving skills assessed were significantly worse than those of the other 2 classes of drivers. In line with previous studies, our data showed deterioration of driving skills with increasing age. The test-retest reliability of the driving simulation parameters were moderate to very high
Operator Fatigue Estimation Using Heart Rate Measures
Get PDFThis study was designed to evaluate the viabililty of utilizing Tachograms for estimating fatigue in industrial and transportation applications. To explore this possibility Tachograms were recorded continuously and several heart rate measures were calculated and correlated with other well established fatigue measures. It was anticipated that changes in operator fatigue during a night time study could be depicted during three different conditions. In the first condition, a 40-minute monotonous driving task, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), Variation of Lane Deviation (VLD), number of Micro-Sleep Events (MSE), numbers of accidents, and the PERCLOS score were collected as subjective and objective fatigue measures. In the second condition, a 10-minute Compensatory Tracking Task (CTT), the Mean Distance (MD) of a moving disk to a given target, the Standard Deviation of the Distance (SDD), as well as the Mean Velocity (MV) of the disk and the Standard Deviation of the Velocity (SDV) over the test duration were used as fatigue measures. In the third condition, a 5-minute Psychomotoric Vigilance Test (PVT), the Mean Response Times (MRT), the Standard Deviation of the Response Times (SDRT), the Mean of the inverse of the Slowest 10% of Response Times (MS10% 1/RT), and the number of lapses were used as fatigue measures. Correlations between heart rate and fatigue measures were calculated and classified using experimental results of one volunteer, who completed two nighttime episodes in a real-car lab following a partial sleep deprivation design. Results show strong correlations between heart rate variability (HRV) measures and multiple fatigue measures
Design and Evaluation of Serial-Hybrid Vehicle Energy Gauges
Get PDFThis paper describes a usability study of serial-hybrid vehicle energy gauge designs. Eight gauges that were modified by design format (bars, dials), color (one color, two colors) and the type of information present (range information, no range information) were tested in a driving simulator under urban/suburban traffic conditions. Participants answered questions about the state of the battery and fuel tank separately and also answered questions that involved combining the information from both sources of energy. Comprehension was assessed based on accuracy and response times to the questions when a gauge was presented. Participants also completed subjective ratings of the gauges. Driving performance was assessed to determine if driving was affected by responding to gauge presentations. Overall, the results indicated that the bar design using two colors and including range information performed best when integration of the two energy sources was required. These attributes were also most preferred by participants in this study
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Younger and Older Adults' Simulated Highway Driving Performance Under Single and Dual Task Conditions
Get PDFDriving is a complex psychomotor task that is often interrupted by secondary activities that divert attention away from the roadway. The risk of inattentive driving is known vary with age. The degree to which culture impacts these changes is less established. To study the impact of age and culture on drivers’ capacity to manage dual task demands, we developed a parallel driving simulation in the US and Korea. We assessed the performance of 135 drivers divided into two age groups, younger (20–29) and older (60-69). Both age and cultural group differences in basic highway driving performance measures were observed. However, the relative impact of the dual task demands on driving performance was largely consistent across cultures
Comparing Techniques to Reduce Simulator Adaptation Syndrome and Improve Naturalistic Behaviour During Simulated Driving
Get PDFElectrical stimulation of the vestibular sensory system during virtual environment simulations reduces the incidence of simulator adaptation syndrome (SAS). However, interactions between vestibular stimulation and complex visual scenery can increase oculomotor symptoms. This study examined an alternative technique to reduce symptoms of SAS using the application of galvanic cutaneous stimulation of the neck. The effect of both vestibular and cutaneous stimulation was also evaluated on the naturalistic driving behaviour of curves. Thirty participants drove a rural setting virtual environment with high visual cues. Three groups of ten participants each were used to compare the effect of galvanic vestibular stimulation and galvanic cutaneous stimulation versus a control group on post drive scores of the SSQ (Simulator Sickness Questionnaire) and three driving variables (steering variability, lane position, and vehicular speed). Galvanic cutaneous stimulation while driving resulted in decreased SSQ scores, but did not show an effect on driving behaviour. Conversely, galvanic vestibular stimulation while driving curves resulted in vehicular speeds that were reflective of natural real world driving behaviour and similar SSQ scores to control. These results support the theory that cutaneous stimulation of the neck is a worthy alternative to vestibular stimulation for reducing SAS especially in scenarios requiring complex visual scenes; however, if naturalistic driving behaviour (of curves) is important, vestibular stimulation remains the better choice as it can reduce SAS symptoms (in virtual environments with low visual stimuli) and also promotes naturalistic driving behaviours
Near Peripheral Motion Contrast Threshold Predicts Older Drivers' Driving Simulator Performance
Get PDFThe method of descending limits assessed motion contrast thresholds of 11 young participants (17–28), and 21 older drivers (63–86) for 0.4 cycle/degree drifting Gabor stimuli at 15 degrees eccentricity. Peripheral motion contrast thresholds (PMCT) of younger participants (M = –45.5 dB, SD = 1.66 dB) and older participants (M = –43.3 dB, SD = 3.79 dB) differed (t(29) = 2.295, p < .05 (all p-values one-tailed)). Older drivers performed UFOV® tests and a high-fidelity driving simulation. Between independent variables, significant correlations were PMCT with UFOV2 (r = .74, p < .001), PMCT with UFOV3 (r = .50, p < .01), PMCT with age (r =.73, p < .001), UFOV2 with age (r = .48, p < .05), and UFOV3 with age (r = .44, p < .05). Between vision and simulator measures, PMCT and UFOV2 significantly predicted rater’s simulator score (r = .66, p < .001; r = .58, p < .01 respectively), and simulator crashes ( r = .63, p < .001; r = .72, p < .001 respectively). Thus, PMCT and UFOV2 strongly predicted simulator performance. Partial correlations showed that: substantial association between PMCT and UFOV2 was not age–related; PMCT and UFOV2 tapped a common visual function; and PMCT assessed a component not captured by UFOV2. The descending limits procedure is as reliable and faster than forcedchoice. A practicable PMCT test that informs at-risk drivers about visual deficits may help them compensate effectively by learning voluntary scanning techniques and by otherwise modifying their driving techniques
Evaluation of an Onboard Safety Monitoring Device in Commercial Vehicle Operations
Get PDFThe Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded this project to provide an independent evaluation of DriveCam’s low-cost Driving Behavior Management System (DBMS). Participating drivers drove an instrumented vehicle for 17 consecutive weeks while they made their normal, revenue-producing deliveries. During the 4-week Baseline phase, the event recorder recorded safety-related events. However, the feedback light on the event recorder was disabled and safety managers did not have access to the recorded critical incidents to provide feedback to drivers. During the 13-week Intervention phase, the feedback light on the event recorder was activated and safety managers had access to the recorded safety-related events (following the coaching protocol with drivers). Carrier A significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 37 percent (p = 0.049), while Carrier B significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 52.2 percent (p = 0.03). The results suggest the combination of onboard safety monitoring and behavioral coaching were responsible for the reduction in mean frequency of events/miles traveled at Carriers A and