Effects on driving performance of interacting with an in-vehicle music player: a comparison of three interface layout concepts for information presentation

Assessing driver distraction from in-vehicle information system: an on-road study exploring the effects of input modalities and secondary task types

In-vehicle information system (IVIS) use is prevalent among young adults. However, their interaction with IVIS needs to be better understood. Therefore, an on-road study aims to explore the effects of input modalities and secondary task types on young drivers' secondary task performance, driving performance, and visual glance behavior. A 2 × 4 within-subject design was undertaken. The independent variables are input modalities (auditory-speech and visual-manual) and secondary task types (calls, music, navigation, and radio). The dependent variables include secondary task performance (task completion time, number of errors, and SUS), driving performance (average speed, number of lane departure warnings, and NASA-TLX), and visual glance behavior (average glance duration, number of glances, total glance duration, and number of glances over 1.6 s). The statistical analysis result showed that the main effect of input modalities is significant, with more distraction during visual-manual than auditory-speech. The main impact of secondary task types was also substantial across most metrics, aside from average speed and average glance duration. Navigation and music were the most distracting, followed by calls, and radio came in last. The distracting effect of input modalities is relatively stable and generally not moderated by the secondary task types, except radio tasks. The findings practically benefit the driver-friendly human-machine interface design, preventing IVIS-related distraction.

Domain- and task-analytic workload (DTAW) method: a methodology for predicting mental workload during severe accidents in nuclear power plants

Excessive mental workload reduces operators' performance and threatens the safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in severe accident management (SAM). Given the lack of suitable mental workload measurement methods for SAM tasks, we proposed a Domain- and Task-Analytic Workload (DTAW) method to predict SAM workload. The DTAW method is developed in three stages: scenario construction based on work domain analysis, task analysis, and workload estimation with eight workload components scored through task-analytic and projective methods. To demonstrate its utility, we applied the method to construct two SAM scenarios and predict the mental workload demand of operators in these scenarios as compared to two design basis accident scenarios. With statistical analysis, the DTAW method can predict the overall subjective workload rated by NPP operators, be used to identify high-load tasks, cluster tasks with similar workload patterns, and provide direct implications for improving SAM strategies and supporting systems.Practitioner summary: To predict mental workload in severe accident management (SAM) scenarios in nuclear power plants, we proposed an analytic method and applied it to estimate mental workload in two SAM scenarios and two design basis accident (DBA) scenarios. We found that the workload pattern in SAM scenarios is different from that in DBA scenarios.

"Slow down. Rail crossing ahead. Look left and right at the crossing": In-vehicle auditory alerts improve driver behavior at rail crossings

Even though the rail industry has made great strides in reducing accidents at crossings, train-vehicle collisions at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings (HRGCs) continue to be a major issue in the US and across the world. In this research, we conducted a driving simulator study (N = 35) to evaluate a hybrid in-vehicle auditory alert (IVAA), composed of both speech and non-speech components, that was selected after two rounds of subjective evaluation studies. Participants drove through a simulated scenario and reacted to HRGCs with and without the IVAA present and through different music conditions and crossing devices. Driver simulator testing results showed that the inclusion of the hybrid IVAA significantly improved driving behavior near HRGCs in terms of gaze behavior, braking reaction, and approach speed to the crossing. The driving simulator study also showed the effects of background music and warning device types on driving performance. The study contributes to the large-scale implementation of IVAAs at HRGCs, as well as the development of guidelines toward a more standardized approach for IVAAs at HRGCs.

Effects of interface layout design on mobile learning efficiency: a comparison of interface layouts for mobile learning platform

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of mobile learning platforms on users' study efficiency and develop cognitive indicators to evaluate users' study efficiency on mobile learning platforms.

Design/methodology/approach

Layout style was the only independent factor that was investigated. A between-group experimental design was employed. Eye movement data were recorded during the experiment, following which participants were asked to complete an after-scenario questionnaire. This study evaluated the usability of the proposed new design using both subjective and objective data. The computer system usability questionnaire V3 (CSUQ) was used to measure subjective data. For the eye-tracking measure, gaze entropy, the proportion of fixation count and duration of each AOI were calculated. Gaze entropy reflects the complexity of information organization. Fixation counts and AOI duration represent the difficulty of information processing and attention distribution, respectively during the task.

Findings

The results indicated that interface layout presents significant effects on user's learning efficiency, usability and cognitive load. Sequential layout improved efficiency and satisfaction among participants and reduced information complexity. The results provided useful insights for designers whose goal is to improve user's learning efficiency under mobile learning scheme.

Originality/value

This study investigated the effects of interface layout on usability, user performance and cognitive load using subjective ratings and eye-tracking technology. Gaze entropy was used to measure the complexity of information organized by the interface design. Fixation count and duration proportion were used to identify the difficulty of information processing and distinguish users' distribution of cognitive resources. The results indicated that a vertical layout panel design was more efficient than a horizontal layout panel design. The design implications of the eye tracking indicators and research results were then summarized. This study is expected to encourage designers to optimize their design proposals using eye tracking testing.

Effects of Distraction in On-Road Level 2 Automated Driving: Impacts on Glance Behavior and Takeover Performance

OBJECTIVE

The paper aimed to investigate glance behaviors under different levels of distraction in automated driving (AD) and understand the impact of distraction levels on driver takeover performance.

BACKGROUND

Driver distraction detrimentally affects takeover performance. Glance-based distraction measurement could be a promising method to remind drivers to maintain enough attentiveness before the takeover request in partially AD.

METHOD

Thirty-six participants were recruited to drive a Tesla Model S in manual and Autopilot modes on a test track while engaging in secondary tasks, including temperature-control, email-sorting, and music-selection, to impose low and high distractions. During the test drive, participants needed to quickly change the lane as if avoiding an immediate road hazard if they heard an unexpected takeover request (an auditory warning). Driver state and behavior over the test drive were recorded in real time by a driver monitoring system and several other sensors installed in the Tesla vehicle.

RESULTS

The distribution of off-road glance duration was heavily skewed (with a long tail) by high distractions, with extreme glance duration more than 30 s. Moreover, being eyes-off-road before takeover could cause more delay in the urgent takeover reaction compared to being hands-off-wheel.

CONCLUSION

The study measured off-road glance duration under different levels of distraction and demonstrated the impacts of being eyes-off-road and hands-off-wheel on the following takeover performance.

APPLICATION

The findings provide new insights about engagement in Level 2 AD and are useful for the design of driver monitoring technologies for distraction management.

The Influence of In-Vehicle Subtasks on Driving Performance Using the Lane-Changing Test

To improve the specification and applicability of performance indicators for in-vehicle subtask impact experiments, additional driving performance indicators were added to the international standard test environment, the lane-changing test (LCT). The comprehensive characteristics of multiple indicators were studied using the C4.5 decision tree. The paired memory test was selected as a subtask, and data on driving trajectory, speed, and steering angle were collected and analyzed under three task conditions (baseline, easy task, and difficult task). The results showed that the newly added indicators such as lane offset times, initial lane-changing distance, and correct lane-changing ratio could reflect the new driving characteristics from the aspects of the times of lateral deviation over threshold events, driver response, error proportion, etc. Subjects with different driving states were grouped into the lane-keeping indicator and lane-changing indicator. By using the C4.5 decision tree, classification accuracies of 85.2% and 91.3% were achieved, respectively, which indicated a high accuracy rate of task state discrimination. The overall performance of lane keeping and lane changing was different under the action of the subtasks, especially the lane-changing performance.

Exploring the Role of Visual Design in Digital Public Health Safety Education

In this research, the positive role of interface visual design in digital safety education was verified taking COVID-19 prevention and control knowledge as the content of public health safety education, where interface emotion (positive, negative, and neutral) and interface layout (waterfall typed and juxtaposition typed) were regarded as independent variables, and readers’ understanding, course evaluation and system usability score were dependent variables. As revealed in the results of a 3 × 2 two-factor experiment in which 252 college students participated: first, different interface emotion can cause significantly different understanding, where negative emotion has the best learning transfer effect; second, due to the difference in interface emotion, participants may give certain courses significantly different evaluation scores, while positive emotional interface contributes to the obviously high scores of three course-evaluation items, “appeal of the lesson”, “enjoyment of the lesson” and “interface quality”; third, significantly different system usability can be caused by different interface layout, where waterfall-type layout enjoys higher appraisal from users; fourth, interface emotion and interface layout have a similar interactive effects in terms of “effort of the lesson” and “interface quality”, where waterfall-type layout is favored in terms of positive emotional interface, and juxtaposition-type layout is more advantageous in terms of negative emotional interface. These results are of vital significance for interface design and safety education. Further, the visual design method for interface emotion and interface layout were analyzed to determine the most suitable design principles so as to improve the effect of digital public health safety education and provide constructive ideas for fighting against COVID-19 at the educational level.

An Application of Machine Learning for Police Mobile Computer Terminal Usability Evaluation

Police in-vehicle technologies especially mobile computer terminals (MCTs) are the major cause of motor vehicle crashes for law enforcement officers. Previous studies have found several usability issues with the design of MCT interfaces. The objective of this study was to develop an algorithm for classification of MCT interface usability based on a combination of officer performance, visual attention allocation, and subjective measures. It was found that speed deviation, secondary task completion time, off-road fixation frequency and glance duration are informative features that associate with MCT usability. The developed algorithm has the potential to be used in MCT design and development process to ensure efficient interaction in multi-tasking situations of driving and using the MCT.

Effect of police mobile computer terminal interface design on officer driving distraction

Several crash reports have identified in-vehicle distraction to be a primary cause of emergency vehicle crashes especially in law enforcement. Furthermore, studies have found that mobile computer terminals (MCTs) are the most frequently used in-vehicle technology for police officers. Twenty police officers participated in a driving simulator-based assessment of visual behavior, performance, workload and situation awareness with current and enhanced MCT interface designs. In general, results revealed MCT use while driving to decrease officer visual attention to the roadway, but usability improvements can reduce the level of visual distraction and secondary-task completion time. Results also suggest that use of MCTs while driving significantly reduces perceived level of driving environment awareness for police officers and increases cognitive workload. These findings may be useful for MCT manufacturers in improving interface designs to increase police officer and civilian safety.

Sonification of in-vehicle interface reduces gaze movements under dual-task condition

In-car infotainment systems (ICIS) often degrade driving performances since they divert the driver's gaze from the driving scene. Sonification of hierarchical menus (such as those found in most ICIS) is examined in this paper as one possible solution to reduce gaze movements towards the visual display. In a dual-task experiment in the laboratory, 46 participants were requested to prioritize a primary task (a continuous target detection task) and to simultaneously navigate in a realistic mock-up of an ICIS, either sonified or not. Results indicated that sonification significantly increased the time spent looking at the primary task, and significantly decreased the number and the duration of gaze saccades towards the ICIS. In other words, the sonified ICIS could be used nearly exclusively by ear. On the other hand, the reaction times in the primary task were increased in both silent and sonified conditions. This study suggests that sonification of secondary tasks while driving could improve the driver's visual attention of the driving scene.

Evaluation of the safety and usability of touch gestures in operating in-vehicle information systems with visual occlusion

Nowadays, many automobile manufacturers are interested in applying the touch gestures that are used in smart phones to operate their in-vehicle information systems (IVISs). In this study, an experiment was performed to verify the applicability of touch gestures in the operation of IVISs from the viewpoints of both driving safety and usability. In the experiment, two devices were used: one was the Apple iPad, with which various touch gestures such as flicking, panning, and pinching were enabled; the other was the SK EnNavi, which only allowed tapping touch gestures. The participants performed the touch operations using the two devices under visually occluded situations, which is a well-known technique for estimating load of visual attention while driving. In scrolling through a list, the flicking gestures required more time than the tapping gestures. Interestingly, both the flicking and simple tapping gestures required slightly higher visual attention. In moving a map, the average time taken per operation and the visual attention load required for the panning gestures did not differ from those of the simple tapping gestures that are used in existing car navigation systems. In zooming in/out of a map, the average time taken per pinching gesture was similar to that of the tapping gesture but required higher visual attention. Moreover, pinching gestures at a display angle of 75° required that the participants severely bend their wrists. Because the display angles of many car navigation systems tends to be more than 75°, pinching gestures can cause severe fatigue on users' wrists. Furthermore, contrary to participants' evaluation of other gestures, several participants answered that the pinching gesture was not necessary when operating IVISs. It was found that the panning gesture is the only touch gesture that can be used without negative consequences when operating IVISs while driving. The flicking gesture is likely to be used if the screen moving speed is slower or if the car is in heavy traffic. However, the pinching gesture is not an appropriate method of operating IVISs while driving in the various scenarios examined in this study.

Driver distraction and performance effects of highway logo sign design

Driver distraction and safety concerns have been identified for new highway logo sign configurations. This study assessed driver perception of logo signs and distraction under nine-panel, overflow-combination, or standard six-panel formats. A nine-panel sign has nine business panels within a single sign; a six-panel sign has six panels within a sign; an overflow-combination consists of a standard six-panel sign and a six-panel sign displaying two different services (e.g., food and gas). In this study, twenty-four participants searched for target food business logos while driving in a high-fidelity driving simulation under each signage condition. Gas and lodging signs were also displayed along the road in conventional six-panel formats. Dependent variables included signal detection, visual attention allocation, and vehicle control measures. Experiment results showed nine-panel signs drew greater visual attention and produced lower average speed than overflow-combination signs, and produced a lower speeding percentage compared to six-panel signs. However, there was no evidence the new configurations (nine-panel and overflow) caused substantive performance changes with safety implications. This study suggested the use of nine-panel and overflow-combination logo signs may be suitable for interchanges where there are more than six qualifying businesses in a category in terms of driver performance and safety.

The effects of using a portable music player on simulated driving performance and task-sharing strategies

This study examined the effects of performing scrollable music selection tasks using a portable music player (iPod Touch™) on simulated driving performance and task-sharing strategies, as evidenced through eye glance behaviour and secondary task performance. A total of 37 drivers (18-48 yrs) completed the PC-based MUARC Driver Distraction Test (DDT) while performing music selection tasks on an iPod Touch. Drivers' eye glance behaviour was examined using faceLAB eye tracking equipment. Results revealed that performing music search tasks while driving increased the amount of time that drivers spent with their eyes off the roadway and decreased their ability to maintain a constant lane position and time headway from a lead vehicle. There was also evidence, however, that drivers attempted to regulate their behaviour when distracted by decreasing their speed and taking a large number of short glances towards the device. Overall, results suggest that performing music search tasks while driving is problematic and steps to prohibit this activity should be taken.

The implications of cross-regional differences for the design of In-vehicle Information Systems: a comparison of Australian and Chinese drivers

The increasing global distribution of automobiles necessitates that the design of In-vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) is appropriate for the regions to which they are being exported. Differences between regions such as culture, environment and traffic context can influence the needs, usability and acceptance of IVIS. This paper describes two studies aimed at identifying regional differences in IVIS design needs and preferences across drivers from Australia and China to determine the impact of any differences on IVIS design. Using a questionnaire and interaction clinics, the influence of cultural values and driving patterns on drivers' preferences for, and comprehension of, surface- and interaction-level aspects of IVIS interfaces was explored. Similarities and differences were found between the two regional groups in terms of preferences for IVIS input control types and labels and in the comprehension of IVIS functions. Specifically, Chinese drivers preferred symbols and Chinese characters over English words and were less successful (compared to Australians) at comprehending English abbreviations, particularly for complex IVIS functions. Implications in terms of the current trend to introduce Western-styled interfaces into other regions with little or no adaptation are discussed.