Driver's Gaze Research Articles

Steering with the head: The visual strategy of a racing driver

We studied the eye movements of a racing driver during high-speed practice to see whether he took in visual information in a different way from a normal driver on a winding road [1, 2]. We found that, when cornering, he spent most of the time looking close to, but not exactly at, the tangent points on the inside edges of the bends. Each bend was treated slightly differently, and there was a highly repeatable pattern to the way the track edge was viewed throughout each bend. We also found a very close relationship between the driver's head direction and the rate of rotation of the car 1 s later. We interpret these observations as indicating that the driver's gaze is not driven directly by tangent point location, as it is in ordinary driving. Instead, we propose that his head direction is driven by the same information that he uses to control steering and speed, namely his knowledge of the track and his racing line round it. If he directs his head at an angle proportional to his estimate of car rotation speed, this will automatically bring his head roughly into line with the tangent points of the bends. From this standardized position, he can use the expected movements of the tangent points in his field of view to verify, and if necessary modify, his racing line during the following second.

1104 音声経路誘導時のドライバの運転行動に関する実験的考察(OS1 ITS, Smart Cruise 21)

Recently, by the practical use of ITS, it is promoted that a driver is provided a lot of quantity and various kind of information from the surroundings and vehicle all the more. Particularly, the diffusion rate of the multifunctional car navigation system has being a marked increase. As such, it is important to examine the effective presentation method by the car navigation system in the driving situations. This paper describes the examination based on experimental results that the difference of the driver's behavior between the route guidance by the passenger's voice and the route guidancc by the computer synthetic sound. In addition, it is examined that the frequency of the driver's gaze to discrete observation subjects at city road.

Precision and Accuracy of Video-Based Measurements of Driver's Gaze Location

Off-line video analysis of driver eye gaze location is becoming an increasingly important tool for automotive ergonomics research. However, little information is available through which to estimate the reliability and validity of these techniques. The current investigation assessed the accuracy and precision of subjects' judgments of driver eye gaze location from video taped records of controlled fixations across a vehicle's instrument panel. Results revealed an average accuracy for the assessment of gaze location of 8.45 cm with a corresponding precision of 12.2 cm. Accuracy, but not precision, was found to vary systematically as a function of where on the instrument panel the driver happened to be looking. These precision and accuracy values establish a benchmark which subsequent studies can use to estimate the appropriateness and limitations of the off-line video analysis technique.

Driving with Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) affects several abilities that are crucial to automobile driving and can thereby increase the risk for a crash. The specific driver safety errors that lead up to crashes in this driver population, however, remain largely unknown. We developed a graphical means for dissecting these safety-related behaviors for application to car crashes of AD drivers. These crashes occurred in collision avoidance scenarios implemented on the Iowa Driving Simulator. Crash plots were produced by "rewinding" the data stream, then graphing the vehicle speed, path, steering wheel position, pedal positions, and driver gaze up to the very moment of impact. In this way, we were able to display in detail the patterns of vehicle and driver control to determine exactly how a crash occurred. Several different types of antecedent safety errors were noted, ranging from responding inappropriately with the hand and foot controls to not responding at all. In this paper we focus on the performance of a single impaired driver to demonstrate our technique and findings. Understanding the "anatomy" of crashes in cognitively disabled drivers with AD can help guide future efforts at injury prevention and control.

An evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of an automobile moving-map navigational display : Int J Man-Machine Studies, 1990, 33.5, 581–594, 12 refs

This experiment was performed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of navigating with an automobile moving-map display relative to navigating with a conventionl paper map and along a memorized route, which served as a baseline for comparison. Results indicated that there were no differences in the quality of routes selected when using either the paper map or the moving map to navigate. However, the moving map significantly drew the driver's gaze away from the driving task relative to the norm established in the memorized route condition, as well as in comparison to the paper map. These findings are discussed in the context of the different navigation strategies evoked by use of the paper and moving-map methods of navigation.

An evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of an automobile moving-map navigational display

This experiment was performed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of navigating with an automobile moving-map display relative to navigating with a conventionl paper map and along a memorized route, which served as a baseline for comparison. Results indicated that there were no differences in the quality of routes selected when using either the paper map or the moving map to navigate. However, the moving map significantly drew the driver's gaze away from the driving task relative to the norm established in the memorized route condition, as well as in comparison to the paper map. These findings are discussed in the context of the different navigation strategies evoked by use of the paper and moving-map methods of navigation.