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Evaluation of Manual vs. Speech Input When Using a Driver Information System in Real Traffic
Get PDFThe executed study evaluated the influence of manual and speech input on driving quality, stress and strain situation and user acceptance when using a Driver Information System (DIS). The study is part of the EU-project SENECA. 16 subjects took part in the investigations. A car was equipped with a modified DIS to carry out the evaluation in real traffic situations. The used DIS is a standard product with manual input control elements. This DIS was extended by a speech input system with a speaker independent speech recogniser. For the use of the different DIS devices (radio, CD player, telephone, navigation) 12 different representative tasks were given to the subjects. Independently the type of task speech input needs longer operation times than manual input. In case of complex tasks a distinct improvement of the driving quality can be observed with speech instead of manual input. The subjective safety feeling is stronger with speech than with manual input. With speech input the number of glances at the mirrors and aside is clearly higher than with manual input. The most frequent user errors can be explained by problems when spelling and by the selection of wrong speech commands. The rate of speech recognition errors amounts on the average to 20.6 % what makes it necessary to increase the recognition performance of the examined speech system. This improvement of system performance is the task of the development for the system demonstrator in the 2nd half of the SENECA project
The Trainer Project: Matching Training Curricula to Drivers Real Needs Using Multimedia Tools
Get PDFOne of the more important issues in road insecurity is that drivers are not enough conscious of allthe dynamics involved while driving a vehicle. Historically, driver training has focused onvehicle control skills and traffic rules without reaching far enough in the efforts to provide riskawareness and other higher order skills. The European Union supported “TRAINER” projectaddresses this problem with the development of a cost-effective Pan-European driver trainingmethodology based on realistic, interactive, off-road tools: a new interactive multimedia trainingtool, a low cost stationary and a mean cost semi-dynamic driving simulator.This paper describes the interactive multimedia tool requirements and scenarios design tosupport driver training and assessment in strategic and manoeuvring tasks. The more than 100different scenarios developed allows training and assessment of higher cognitive skills andfamiliarisation of novice drivers with the basic principles of driving: safety belt use, alcoholdriving influence, gap acceptance, headway tailgating, peripheral view, yielding, lane changing,turning, unforeseen events, hazard perception, overtaking manoeuvres, visual cues, parked car,intersection turning, pedestrians and children and so on.After verification of the methodology and assessment of the effect on risk awarenessenhancement of learners drivers through tests with 30 novice drivers (and an equal controlgroup) in 4 European countries, the TRAINER tools will be integrated into a common Europeandriver education and assessment methodology, that will also contribute towards safe integrationof novice drivers into the traffic environment
Detection of Collision Events by Older and Younger Drivers
Get PDFRecently (Andersen et al., 2000; 1998) we found that older drivers had poorer performance than younger drivers at detecting an impending collision during braking. In the present study we examined whether older drivers have poorer performance than younger drivers at detecting a collision with a moving object. 22 older and younger drivers were presented with computer generated scenes of a roadway in a driving simulator. Located in the scene was a single object that moved independently of the vehicle motion and that was or was not on a collision path with the vehicle. Overall older drivers were less sensitive to detect a collision than younger drivers, with performance worse for long as compared to short time to contact (TTC) conditions
Driver and Driving Assessment Issues Associated with the Application of a Secondary Task Technique: A Case Study
Get PDFA review of experimental methodology can uncover the shortcomings of a particular driving assessment technique, providing insight for the development and refinement of this assessment technique, and its application for further studies. By employing a case study as the backdrop for such a review, a context is created within which the specific application of the assessment technique can be examined and discussed. This paper presents the results of the examination of the driver assessment techniques as applied to the case study which investigated the relationship between conversation intensity while using a cell phone and driver performance. A secondary task technique was applied to study the influence of the intensity of conversation on the degradation of driving performance attributed to using a cellular telephone. Forty participants drove through simulated driving environments and engaged in cellular telephone conversations with the experimenter. After driving through each environment participants provided a rating of the workload experienced during the cellular telephone conversation during the drive. Accelerator input, speed, steering input, and lane position measurements were recorded while participants drove through particular sections of the simulated driving environments. Results of the study indicated the variation of steering input increased when the cellular telephone was used. As far as differences between the male participants and females participants, the males generally drove faster and the females responded more quickly to a situation requiring a sudden braking or steering maneuver. Overall, the drivers perceived the workload to be greater when using a cellular telephone. However, the use of the case study to examine the driver assessment and secondary task techniques indicated there were several positive and negative attributes which need to be considered in future research where such techniques are to be applied. For example, an analysis of the performance measures revealed that changes in the horizontal alignment of the roadway created lasting perturbations in the data. In particular, increased variations in steering input and lane position were observed for a considerable distance and time after a participant exited a curved section of roadway. These perturbations subsequently interfered with the application of the secondary task. Results of this case study will be discussed in terms of the positive and negative attributes of employing the driving assessment techniques and secondary techniques, how to enhance the utility of these techniques, and the theoretical and practical application of these techniques for on-road and simulated driving environment research
Time-to-Contact and Collision-Detection Estimations as Measures of Driving Safety in Old and Dementia Drivers
Get PDFThe paper discusses the importance of Time-to-Contact (TTC) and collision occurrence (CD) estimations for safe driving. It describes a computerised testing tool that requires TTC and CD estimations while dividing attention and discusses the association between performance on this task and several measures of driving safety. We report four studies showing that the task is sensitive to age effects and dementia effects, that the accuracy of Time-to-Contact estimations differentiates between old and dementia drivers recently involved in accidents and those not involved. We also found an association between performance on this task and that on navigation and car following tasks in a driving simulator
Disconnect Between Driver Behavior/Performance Studies and Crash Experience: Lessons from the Study of Young/Inexperienced Drivers
Get PDFThe quantitative measurement of driver behavior has been central to much of the systematic research underlying highway safety issues during the past forty years. It has contributed to the way in which we design roads, vehicles, training programs, signs and markings, and intelligent transportation systems. Yet the methods we use to conduct driver behavior experiments may result in a disconnect with the circumstances under which crash events occur. This is particularly evident in problems related to young, inexperienced drivers. This paper discusses some of the systematic biases that characterize the quantitative driver behavior research base regarding youthful drivers. Some broader implications for the general study of driver behavior and performance are then considered
Ergonomics Specifications and Design of a HMI for an Informational Safe Driving Support System
Get PDFThis paper describes the first ergonomics step for the design of a HMI for an informational safe driving support system. The objectives of the experimentation presented below, are to supply first settings corresponding to an alert and to collect first "subjectives" evaluations of the HMI tested with the aim of a final evaluation and of recommendations for the conception
Low-Cost PC-Simulation Technology Applied to Novice Driver Training
Get PDFThis paper describes a low-cost driving simulator designed to test the feasibility of training novice drivers. The simulator, based on personal computer technology, was fully interactive with steering, throttle and brake controls. Training and testing scenarios were defined procedurally using a scenario definition language (SDL) that required drivers to maintain safe speeds, negotiate curves and right angle turns, obey traffic control devices (markings, signs and signals) and interact with traffic and pedestrians that were controlled to represent cognitively challenging hazards. The SDL also allowed the event sequences in the scenarios to be conveniently rearranged from run to run to avoid drivers anticipating the occurrence of critical events. A pilot experiment was conducted to compare the simulation performance of a group of novice (unlicensed) drivers with a group of experienced drivers (more than ten years of driving) during two sessions. Performance measures included accidents and speed limit exceedances. Statistically reliable differences in performance were found between the novice and experienced drivers. These encouraging pilot study results suggest that low cost simulation may offer a way to teach novice drivers how to cope with cognitively complex driving hazards
The Use of a Multi-modal Interface to Integrate In-Vehicle Information Presentation
Get PDFThe car of the future will have many new information sources— including telematics systems, navigation systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)—that will compete for a driver’s limited cognitive attention. If they are implemented as completely separate systems then cognitive overload and driver distraction are inevitable outcomes. However, if they are implemented as an integrated intelligent system with a multi-modal interface, then the benefits of such functionality will be achieved with much less impact on driving safety. Such a system will support the task of safe driving by filtering and mediating information in response to real-world driving demands. This paper outlines the Human Factors research program being undertaken by Motorola Labs to evaluate key elements of such a multi-modal interface as well as the key human factors issues involved in a multi-modal interface
Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperative Systems for Intersection Collision Avoidance: Driver Assessment Challenges
Get PDFAccording to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1998) data, there were 37,280 crashes that involved fatalities in 1997. Of these crashes, 8,571 were related to intersections. The fatal crashes at intersection were about evenly divided among noncontrolled intersections, signal controlled intersections, and stop sign controlled intersection. In addition to fatal crashes, almost 1 million injury crashes occur at intersections annually, and there are about 1.7 million police reported crashes at intersection each year. Various programs have proposed alternative countermeasures to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities at intersections. Conventional countermeasures such as protected left turn signals are effective and fairly well understood. However, these countermeasures alone will not eliminate intersection crashes because they do not address factors such as willful and unintentional red-light and stop sign violations, gap acceptance problems associated with older drivers, and sight distance problems at intersections that may not warrant traffic signals. The Federal Highway Administration is pursuing infrastructure based ITS solutions to address crashes at intersections. Initially these solutions will not require changes to vehicles. It is anticipated that in the future, some of these solutions could be integrated into in-vehicle ITS systems to enable either in-vehicle warnings or automated crash avoidance systems. Four types of intersection-infrastructure systems are envision: (1) traffic signal violation warning, (2) stop sign violation warning, (3) traffic signal left turn assistances, and (4) stop sign movement assistance. Each of these systems is described briefly, and a preliminary list of the driver behavior issues associated with each is identified. The challenge for the design of these systems is similar to that for other areas of highway and vehicle design – how to assess driver performance and behavior with these systems before the systems are fielded. Various assessment techniques are discussed in association with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The FHWA human-centered research approach for intersection-infrastructure solutions is presented