Attention grounding: a new approach to in-vehicle information system implementation

Driven by an expected $15–100 billion market, the race to produce in-vehicle information system (IVIS) functions has begun. Although IVIS functions may increase productivity, satisfaction and safety, they may also undermine safety and annoy drivers. Developing IVIS design strategies that minimize driver distraction is a critical challenge in developing successful IVIS functions. Several approaches have been developed to address this challenge. Interference mitigation has been the historical approach to IVIS research. More recently, workload management has emerged as an approach that may mitigate distraction by monitoring and managing the varying demands of driving and IVIS interaction. This paper presents attention grounding as a novel approach that complements previous efforts. Attention grounding uses the concepts of collaborative communication, grounding and dynamical systems theory to address the shortcomings of current approaches. IVIS interaction is considered a collaborative process that is supported with back-channel cues, rather than a series of discrete commands with no consideration of inevitable errors. Back-channel communication augments these commands to develop a shared awareness of the driver, roadway and IVIS state. Attention grounding considers the driver as an active participant in choosing when and how to use the IVIS, rather than assuming the driver's workload must be managed. This conceptualization highlights the role of dynamic changes in attention, such as attentional withdrawal and cognitive tunnelling as causes of distraction, rather than considering only mental overload. Together, these considerations provide a complementary approach to how IVIS might be designed to enhance ease of use and safety.     

Driver distraction: the effects of concurrent in-vehicle tasks, road environment complexity and age on driving performance

This paper presents the findings of a simulator study that examined the effects of distraction upon driving performance for drivers in three age groups. There were two in-vehicle distracter tasks: operating the vehicle entertainment system and conducting a simulated hands-free mobile phone conversation. The effect of visual clutter was examined by requiring participants to drive in simple and complex road environments. Overall measures of driving performance were collected, together with responses to roadway hazards and subjective measures of driver perceived workload. The two in-vehicle distraction tasks degraded overall driving performance, degraded responses to hazards and increased subjective workload. The performance decrements that occurred as a result of in-vehicle distraction were observed in both the simple and complex highway environments and for drivers in different age groups. One key difference was that older drivers traveled at lower mean speeds in the complex highway environment compared with younger drivers. The conclusions of the research are that both in-vehicle tasks impaired several aspects of driving performance, with the entertainment system distracter having the greatest negative impact on performance, and that these findings were relatively stable across different driver age groups and different environmental complexities.     

The distraction effects of phone use during a crucial driving maneuver

Forty-two licensed drivers were tested in an experiment that required them to respond to an in-vehicle phone at the same time that they were faced with making a crucial stopping decision. Using test track facilities, we also examined the influence of driver gender and driver age on these dual-task response capacities. Each driver was given task practice and then performed a first block of 24 trials, where one trial represented one circuit of the test track. Half of the trials were control conditions in which neither the stop-light was activated nor was the in-vehicle phone triggered. Four trials required only stop-light response and a further four, phone response only. The remaining four trials required the driver to complete each task simultaneously. The order of presentation of specific trials was randomized and the whole sequence was repeated in a second block giving 48 trials per driver. In-vehicle phone response also contained an embedded memory task that was evaluated at the end of each trial circuit. Results confirmed our previous observation that in the dual-task condition there was a slower response to the light change. To compensate for this slowed response, drivers subsequently brake more intensely. Most importantly, we recorded a critical 15% increase in non-response to the stop-light in the presence of the phone distraction task which equates with increased stop-light violations on the open road. These response patterns varied by driver age and driver gender. In particular, age had a large effect on task components that required speed of response to multiple, simultaneous demands. Since driving represents a highly complex and interactive environment, it is not possible to specify a simplistic relationship between these distraction effects and outcome crash patterns. However, we can conclude that such in-vehicle technologies erode performance safety margin and distract drivers from their critical primary task of vehicle control. As such it can be anticipated that a causal relation exists to collision events. This is a crucial concern for all in-vehicle device designers and for the many safety researchers and professionals seeking to reduce the adverse impacts of vehicle collisions.     

Mitigating driver distraction with retrospective and concurrent feedback

OBJECTIVES: An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of retrospective and combined retrospective and concurrent feedback on driver performance and engagement in distracting activities. BACKGROUND: A previous study conducted by the authors showed that concurrent (or real time) feedback can help drivers better modulate their distracting activities. However, research also shows that concurrent feedback can pose additional distractions due to the limited time and resources available during driving. Retrospective feedback, which is presented at the end of a trip (i.e., post-drive), can include additional information on safety critical situations during a trip and help the driver learn safe driving habits. METHOD: A driving simulator study was conducted with 48 participants and 3 conditions: retrospective feedback, combined feedback (both retrospective and concurrent), and no feedback (baseline case). RESULTS: The feedback conditions (retrospective and combined) resulted in faster response to lead vehicle braking events as depicted by shorter accelerator release times. Moreover, combined feedback also resulted in longer glances to the road. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that both feedback types have potential to improve immediate driving performance and driver engagement in distractions. APPLICATION: Combined feedback holds the most promise for mitigating the effects of distraction from in-vehicle information systems.     

The effect of distractions on the crash types of teenage drivers

Teenage drivers are overrepresented in crashes when compared to middle-aged drivers. Driver distraction is becoming a greater concern among this group as in-vehicle devices, opportunities for distractions, and teenage drivers' willingness to engage in these activities increase. The objective of this study was to determine how different distraction factors impact the crash types that are common among teenage drivers. A multinomial logit model was developed to predict the likelihood that a driver will be involved in one of three common crash types: an angular collision with a moving vehicle, a rear-end collision with a moving lead vehicle, and a collision with a fixed object. These crashes were evaluated in terms of four driver distraction categories: cognitive, cell phone related, in-vehicle, and passenger-related distractions. Different driver distractions have varying effects on teenage drivers' crash involvement. Teenage drivers that were distracted at an intersection by passengers or cognitively were more likely to be involved in rear-end and angular collisions when compared to fixed-object collisions. In-vehicle distractions resulted in a greater likelihood of a collision with a fixed object when compared to angular collisions. Cell phone distractions resulted in a higher likelihood of rear-end collision. The results from this study need to be evaluated with caution due to the limited number of distraction related cases available in the U.S. GES crash database. Implications for identifying and improving the reporting of driver distraction related factors are therefore discussed.     

The impact of secondary task cognitive processing demand on driving performance

Crash causation research has identified inattention as a major source of driver error leading to crashes. The series of experiments presented herein investigate the characteristics of an in-vehicle information system (IVIS) task that could hinder driving performance due to uncertainty buildup and cognitive capture. Three on-road studies were performed that used instrumented passenger and tractor-trailer vehicles to obtain real-world driving performance data. Participants included young, middle-aged, and older passenger vehicle drivers and middle-aged and older commercial vehicle operators. While driving, they were presented with IVIS tasks with various information densities, decision-making elements, presentation formats, and presentation modalities (visual or auditory). The experiments showed that, for both presentation modalities, the presence of multiple decision-making elements in a task had a substantial negative impact on driving performance of both automobile drivers and truck drivers when compared to conventional tasks or tasks with only one decision-making element. The results from these experiments can be used to improve IVIS designs, allowing for potential IVIS task phenomena such as uncertainty buildup and cognitive capture to be avoided.     

The influence of driver distraction on the severity of injuries sustained by teenage drivers and their passengers

Studies show that teenage drivers are at a higher risk for crashes. Opportunities to engage in technology and non-technology based distractions appear to be a particular concern among this age group. An ordered logit model was developed to predict the likelihood of a severe injury for these drivers and their passenger using a national crash database (the 2003, U.S. DOT-General Estimate System [GES]). As one would expect, speeding substantially increases the likelihood of severe injuries for teenage drivers and their passengers. The results of the analysis also reveal that teenage drivers have an increased likelihood of more severe injuries if distracted by a cell phone or by passengers than if the source of distraction was related to in-vehicle devices or if the driver was inattentive. Additionally, passengers of teenage drivers are more likely to sustain severe injuries when their driver is distracted by devices or passengers than with a non-distracted or inattentive driver. This supports the previous literature on teenage drivers and extends our understanding of injuries for this age group related to distraction-related crashes.     

Unconstrained design: improving multitasking with in-vehicle information systems through enhanced situation awareness

ABSTRACT

In the age of information, in-vehicle multitasking is inevitable. The popularity of the automobile, in combination with the present information age, create a growing demand to do more in-vehicle than simply focus on the road. Unconstrained Design, a philosophy which supports rather than constrains multitasking, is proposed as a path toward enhancing performance in-vehicle. Situation Awareness (SA), a theory allowing designers to understand how operators interact in dynamic, complex environments, is used to frame this experimental investigation. Two SA-grounded human-machine interface concepts are proposed, designed to support drivers to multitask in-vehicle when frequent task switching is required. The first focuses upon supporting preparation for a Non-Driving Related Activity (NDRA), and the second upon supporting the Driving Related Activity (DRA) when an NDRA is active. While multitasking, Contextual Cueing, using a Head-up Display, produced significant reductions in NDRA response time, while an auditory lane keeping aid increased the amount of time a driver spent in the central region of a lane. The combined evidence suggests that using SA and Unconstrained Design to create of IVIS that support drivers’ ability to multitask in-vehicle can lead to task performance improvements.     

Identifying cognitive distraction using steering wheel reversal rates

The influence of driver distraction on driving performance is not yet well understood, but it can have detrimental effects on road safety. In this study, we examined the effects of visual and non-visual distractions during driving, using a high-fidelity driving simulator. The visual task was presented either at an offset angle on an in-vehicle screen, or on the back of a moving lead vehicle. Similar to results from previous studies in this area, non-visual (cognitive) distraction resulted in improved lane keeping performance and increased gaze concentration towards the centre of the road, compared to baseline driving, and further examination of the steering control metrics indicated an increase in steering wheel reversal rates, steering wheel acceleration, and steering entropy. We show, for the first time, that when the visual task is presented centrally, drivers’ lane deviation reduces (similar to non-visual distraction), whilst measures of steering control, overall, indicated more steering activity, compared to baseline. When using a visual task that required the diversion of gaze to an in-vehicle display, but without a manual element, lane keeping performance was similar to baseline driving. Steering wheel reversal rates were found to adequately tease apart the effects of non-visual distraction (increase of 0.5° reversals) and visual distraction with offset gaze direction (increase of 2.5° reversals). These findings are discussed in terms of steering control during different types of in-vehicle distraction, and the possible role of manual interference by distracting secondary tasks.     

The effects of in-vehicle tasks and time-gap selection while reclaiming control from adaptive cruise control (ACC) with bus simulator

This research aimed to find out the effects of in-vehicle distractions and time-gap settings with a fix-based bus driving simulator in a following scenario. Professional bus drivers were recruited to perform in-vehicle tasks while driving with adaptive cruise control (ACC) of changeable time-gap settings in freeway traffic. Thirty subjects were divided equally into three groups for different in-vehicle task modes (between subjects), including no task distraction, hands-free, and manual modes. Further, time-gap settings for the experimental ACC were: shorter than 1.0 s, 1.0–1.5 s, 1.5–2.0 s, and longer than 2.0 s (within subjects). Longitudinal (mean headway, forward collision rate, and response time) and lateral control (mean lateral lane position and its standard deviation) performance was assessed. In the results, longitudinal control performance was worsened by both shorter time-gaps and heavier in-vehicle tasks. But the interaction indicated that the harm by heavier in-vehicle distraction could be improved by longer time-gaps. As for the lateral control, it would only be negatively affected by shorter time-gap settings. This research indicates the effects of time-gaps and in-vehicle distraction, as well as the interaction. Proper time-gap selection under different in-vehicle distractions can help avoid accidents and keep safe.     

Driver's adaptive glance behavior to in-vehicle information systems

The purpose of this study was to examine the adaptive behavior of drivers as they engage with in-vehicle devices over time and in varying driving situations. Behavioral adaptation has been shown to occur among drivers after prolonged use of in-vehicle devices, but few studies have examined drivers’ risk levels across different driving demands. A multi-day simulator study was conducted with 28 young drivers (under 30 years old) as they engaged in different text entry and reading tasks while driving in two different traffic conditions. Cluster analysis was used to categorize drivers based on their risk levels and random coefficient models were used to assess changes in drivers’ eye glance behavior. Glance duration significantly increased over time while drivers were performing text entry tasks but not for text reading tasks. High-risk drivers had longer maximum eyes-off-road when performing long text entry tasks compared to low-risk drivers, and this difference increased over time. The traffic condition also had a significant impact on drivers’ glance behavior. This study suggests that drivers may exhibit negative behavioral adaptation as they become more comfortable with using in-vehicle technologies over time. Results of this paper may provide guidance for the design of in-vehicle devices that adapt based on the context of the situation. It also demonstrates that random coefficient models can be used to obtain better estimations of driver behavior when there are large individual differences.     

Enabling multitasking by designing for situation awareness within the vehicle environment

In the driving environment, competition exists between Driving Related Activities (DRAs) and Non-Driving Related Activities (NDRAs). This is a source of inattention and human error. Continual proliferation of in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) presents drivers with opportunities for distraction. Drivers simultaneously manage DRAs alongside unrelated but cognitively demanding NDRAs. Vehicle designers need ways of understanding human capability in such situations to provide solutions that accommodate these conflicting demands. This paper proposes a framework intended to address such challenges, rooted in the widely accepted construct of Situation Awareness (SA). However, SA theory does not presently accommodate disparate unrelated goal-driven tasks performed in parallel. This framework reconciles the present reality of drivers simultaneously devoting cognitive resources to attain SA for multiple activities by proposing a separate body of knowledge for each active goal. Additionally, the process of achieving SA is expanded to incorporate this concurrent development of separate bodies of goal-directed knowledge. The advantage of reconceptualising SA for driving allows consideration of interface design which minimises the impact of competing activities. The aim is a framework facilitating creation of IVIS that help drivers succeed in multi-goal multitasking situations. Implications of the proposed framework for theory, design and industry-driven automotive safety efforts are discussed.     

Passenger complaints about driver behaviors

Fifty-two couples were surveyed about their behavior while driving together. Each was asked to individually rate the driver's behavior, the passenger's amount of complaining about the driver's behavior, the effect of that complaining on the driver, the driver's use of vengeance while driving, and the driver's ability and safety. Drivers and passengers gave similar responses: the riskier the driver's behavior, the more the passenger complained. The more the passenger complained, the less both reported that it helped. Judged ability of the driver was not related to the driver's risky behavior by either the drivers or passengers, although passengers, but not drivers, saw more risky driving behaviors as less safe.     

Alcohol-related impairment in the Lane Change Task

The Lane Change Task was developed to provide an objective safety criterion for the assessment of driver distraction by in-vehicle information systems (IVIS). It consists of two basic driving tasks, namely lane keeping and lane changes. The LCT has been shown to reliably detect distraction from driving. As this test becomes increasingly important for the assessment of safety the validity of the LCT is crucial. In order to examine this further, the effect of an alcohol intoxication of 0.08 g/dl on the performance in the LCT was examined in the present study as the negative effects of alcohol on driving are well known. Twenty-three participants were tested under alcohol and placebo in a cross-over design measuring different performance indicators in the LCT. There were significant effects of alcohol during the lane keeping phase. However, these were much smaller than those typically found with distracting secondary tasks. The lane change phase was only marginally affected by alcohol. This result gives rise to some caution for interpreting effects in the LCT. The LCT is well able to detect distraction, as other studies have shown. However, our study with intoxicated participants shows that a small effect in the LCT does not necessarily mean that this condition does not impair driving.     

手势操控车载信息交互系统研究

目的对驾驶过程中的交互任务进行分析。方法通过车载场景下的基于RGBD传感器的手势识别方法和多通道反馈分析方法进行分析。结果以手势操控作为车载信息系统的交互方式,采用多通道的反馈方式来反馈交互过程中的状态、结果以及错误,设计手势操控车载交互系统的多通道反馈方案,以及车载交互系统的手势操控集。结论实验结果表明,基于手势操控的车载信息交互系统可以有效提高操作效率和驾驶安全。     

Combining cognitive and visual distraction: Less than the sum of its parts

Driver distraction has become a leading cause of motor-vehicle crashes. Although visual and cognitive distraction has been studied extensively, relatively little research has addressed their combined effects on drivers’ behavior. To fill this gap, a medium-fidelity simulator study examined the driver behavior before, during and after three types of distraction. Driving without distraction was compared to visual distraction, cognitive distraction, and combined visual and cognitive distraction. The results show that the visual and combined distraction both impaired vehicle control and hazard detection and resulted in frequent, long off-road glances. The combined distraction was less detrimental than visual distraction alone. Cognitive distraction made steering less smooth, but improved lane maintenance. All distractions caused gaze concentration and slow saccades when drivers looked at the roadway, and cognitive and combined distraction increased blink frequency. Steering neglect, under-compensation, and over-compensation were three typical steering failures that were differentially associated with the different distractions: steering neglect and over-compensation with visual distraction and under-compensation with cognitive distraction. Overall, visual distraction interferes with driving performance more than cognitive distraction, and visual distraction dominates the performance decrements during combined distraction. These results suggest that minimizing visual demand is particularly important in the design of in-vehicle systems and in the development of distraction countermeasures.     

Parents’ and peers’ contribution to risky driving of male teen drivers

The current study joins efforts devoted to understanding the associations of parents’ personality, attitude, and behavior, and to evaluating the added contribution of peers to the driving behavior of young drivers during their solo driving. The study combines data gathered using in-vehicle data recorders from actual driving of parents and their male teen driver with data collected from self-report questionnaires completed by the young drivers. The sample consists of 121 families, who participated in the study for 12 months, beginning with the licensure of the teen driver. The current examination concentrates on the last 3 months of this first year of driving. The experimental design was based on a random control assignment into three treatment groups (with different forms of feedback) and a control group (with no feedback). Findings indicate that the parents’ (especially the fathers’) sensation seeking, anxiety, and aggression, as well as their risky driving events rate were positively associated with higher risky driving of the young driver. In addition, parents’ involvement in the intervention, either by feedback or by training, led to lower risky driving events rate of young drivers compared to the control group. Finally, higher cohesion and adaptability mitigated parents’ model for risky driving, and peers norms’ of risky driving were associated with higher risk by the teen drivers. We conclude by claiming that there is an unequivocal need to look at a full and complex set of antecedents in parents’ personality, attitudes, and behavior, together with the contribution of peers to the young drivers’ reckless driving, and address the practical implications for road safety.     

Distraction-induced driving error: An on-road examination of the errors made by distracted and undistracted drivers

This study explored the nature of errors made by drivers when distracted versus not distracted. Participants drove an instrumented vehicle around an urban test route both while distracted (performing a visual detection task) and while not distracted. Two in-vehicle observers recorded the driving errors made, and a range of other data were collected, including driver verbal protocols, forward, cockpit and driver video, and vehicle data (speed, braking, steering wheel angle, etc.). Classification of the errors revealed that drivers were significantly more likely to make errors when distracted; although driving errors were prevalent even when not distracted. Interestingly, the nature of the errors made when distracted did not differ substantially from those made when not distracted, suggesting that, rather than making different types of errors, distracted drivers simply make a greater number of the same error types they make when not distracted. Avenues for broadening our understanding of the relationship between distraction and driving errors are discussed along with the advantages of using a multi-method framework for studying driver behaviour.     

The effects of brief visual interruption tasks on drivers’ ability to resume their visual search for a pre-cued hazard

Driver visual distraction is known to increase the likelihood of being involved in a crash, especially for long glances inside the vehicle. The detrimental impact of these in-vehicle glances may carry over and disrupt the ongoing processing of information after the driver glances back up on the road. This study explored the effect of different types of visual tasks inside the vehicle on the top-down processes that guide the detection and monitoring of road hazards after the driver glances back towards the road. Using a driving simulator, 56 participants were monitored with an eye tracking system while they navigated various hazardous scenarios in one of four experimental conditions. In all conditions, a potential hazard was visible 4–5 s before the driver could strike the potential hazard were it to materialize. All interruptions were exactly two seconds in length. After the interruption the potential hazard again became visible for about a half-second after which the driver passed by the hazard. The nature of the in-vehicle visual interruption presented to the participants was varied across conditions: (1) Visual interruptions comprised of spatial, driving unrelated, tasks; (2) visual interruptions comprised of non-spatial, driving unrelated, tasks; (3) visual interruptions with no tasks added; and (4) no visual interruptions. In the first three conditions drivers glancing on the forward roadway was momentarily interrupted (either with or without a task) just after the potential hazard first became visible by the occurrence of an in-vehicle task lasting two seconds. In the last condition (no interruptions) the driver could not see the potential hazard after it just became visible because of obstructions in the built or natural environment. The obstruction (like the interruption) lasted for two seconds. In other words, across all conditions the hazard was visible, then became invisible, and finally became visible again. Importantly, the results show that the presence of an interruption (as opposed to an obstruction) negatively impacted drivers’ ability to anticipate the potential hazard. Moreover, the various types of interruptions had differential effects on hazard detection. The implications of this study for the design of in-vehicle displays are discussed.     

Exploring inattention and distraction in the SafetyNet Accident Causation Database

Distraction and inattention are considered to be very important and prevalent factors in the causation of road accidents. There have been many recent research studies which have attempted to understand the circumstances under which a driver becomes distracted or inattentive and how distraction/inattention can be prevented. Both factors are thought to have become more important in recent times partly due to the evolution of in-vehicle information and communication technology. This study describes a methodology that was developed to understand when factors such as distraction and inattention may have been contributors to crashes and also describes some of the consequences of distraction and inattention in terms of subsequent driver actions.