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The Reverse Braking Assist (RBA) feature is designed to automatically activate full braking in a backing vehicle. When this feature activates, a backing vehicle is suddenly stopped or may slide to a stop. During this process, an understanding of the driver's behavior may be useful in the design of an appropriate human-machine-interface (HMI) for the RBA. Several experimental studies were done to examine driver behavior in response to an unexpected and automatic braking event while backing [1]. Two of these studies are reported in this paper. A 7-passenger Crossover Utility Vehicle was fitted with a rear-view camera, a center-stack mounted LCD screen, and ancillary recording devices. In the first study, an object was suddenly placed in the path of a backing vehicle. The backing vehicle came to a sudden and complete stop. The visual image of the backing path on the LCD prominently showed that an obstacle was present in the backing path of the vehicle.

Tijerina and Garrott (1997) used concepts from reliability theory to develop a model of the potential effectiveness of a crash avoidance system (CAS) to support lane change decisions. In the present paper, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on that model to examine the impact of variations in several model input variables on effectiveness predictions. The variables varied include the detection reliability of the CAS, the proportion of lane change attempts which involve a potential conflict with a principal other vehicle (POV), and the proportions of lane changes executed with each of four prototypical reliability structures. Results of the sensitivity analysis show relative insensitivity to variations in the other input variables if there are only a relatively small proportion of lane changes executed in CAS-only or CAS- driver-in-series fashion.

This study investigated the effects of three navigation system human-machine interfaces (HMIs) on driver eye-glance behavior, navigational errors, and subjective assessments. Thirty-six drivers drove an unfamiliar 3-segment route in downtown Detroit. HMIs were 2D or 3D (level-of-detail) electronic map display + standard voice prompts, or 3D map-display augmented by photorealistic images + landmark-enhanced voice prompts. Participants drove the same three route segments in order but were assigned a different HMI condition/segment in a 3-period/3-treatment crossover experimental design. Results indicate that drivers’ visual attention using the advanced navigation systems HMIs were within US Department of Transportation recommended visual distraction limits. More turns missed in the first route segment, regardless of HMI, were attributable to greater route complexity and a late-onset voice prompt. Participant’s ratings of HMIs were influenced by the context in which that HMI was used.

The objectives of this study were a) to determine how expert judges categorized valid Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) Forward Collision Warning (FCW) events from review of naturalistic driving data; and b) to determine how consistent these categorizations were across the judges working in pairs. FCW event data were gathered from 108 drivers who drove instrumented vehicles for 6 weeks each. The data included video of the driver and road scene ahead, beside, and behind the vehicle; audio of the FCW alert onset; and engineering data such as speed and braking applications. Six automotive safety experts examined 197 ‘valid’ (i.e., conditions met design intent) FCW events and categorized each according to a taxonomy of primary contributing factors. Results indicated that of these valid FCW events, between 55% and 73% could be considered ‘nuisance alerts’ by the driver.

This paper presents the methodology and initial results of an effectiveness estimation effort applied to lane change crash avoidance systems. The lane change maneuver was considered to be composed of a decision phase and an execution phase. The decision phase begins when the driver desires to perform a lane change. It continues until the driver turns the handwheel to move the vehicle laterally into the new lane or until the driver decides to postpone the lane change. During the decision phase, the driver gathers information about the road scene ahead and either present or upcoming traffic or obstacles in the destination lane. The execution phase begins when the driver starts the move into the new lane and continues until the vehicle has been laterally stabilized in the destination lane. If the driver aborts the lane change once started, the maneuver execution phase concludes when the vehicle has been laterally stabilized in the original lane.

A fixed-base driving simulator study was conducted to compare driver performance and eye glance behavior effects of tasks performed using the voice interface in Ford Motor Company’s SYNC® system versus handheld operation of portable music players and cellular phones. Data were analyzed from a sample of 25 test participants. All test participants were regular SYNC users (but not SYNC developers), though they varied in their familiarity with SYNC functions. During a car-following scenario at highway speeds on the simulator, the participants performed 7 tasks using SYNC’s voice interface and those same 7 tasks with their own handheld music player and cellular phone. The seven tasks under test were: dial a 10-digit number; call a specific person from a phonebook; receive a call while driving; play a specific song; play songs from a specific artist; review (listen to or read) a text message; and select a reply from a list or type a reply to a text message.

A test procedure that rates brake performance must control variability so that measured differences between vehicles are real. Tests were conducted using standard brake test procedures with three drivers in three cars on wet and dry asphalt with the ABS working and disabled. The differences between vehicles were greater than differences due to ABS condition, surface condition, and drivers. The procedure measured differences between all the vehicles with statistical certainty but used many replications and drivers. If only large differences in performance need to be distinguished, fewer replications and drivers will be needed.

This paper investigates the effects on response time of a forward collision event in a repeated-measures design. Repeated-measures designs are often used in forward collision warning (FCW) testing despite concerns that the first exposure creates expectancy effects that may dilute or bias future outcomes. For this evaluation, 32 participants were divided into groups of 8 for an AA, BB, AB, BA design (A= No Warning; B=FCW alert). They drove in a high-fidelity simulator with a visual distraction task. After driving 15 min in a nighttime rural highway environment, a forward collision threat arose during the distraction task (Period 1). A second drive was then run and the forward collision threat was repeated again after ∼10 min (Period 2). The response times from these consecutive events were analyzed.

Sixty test participants each drove an instrumented vehicle over a prescribed route that included highway and city street segments. Drivers included equal numbers of males and females, and equal numbers of individuals in Younger (18 to 25 years of age), Middle (35 to 45 years of age), and Older (55 to 65 years of age) age groups. Test participants drove on weekdays (Monday through Thursday), in good weather, and during both rush and non-rush hour morning or afternoon periods. Approximately 6,600 vehicle miles of travel on public roads were recorded. Car following range and range rate, travel speed, and driver eye glances were measured to examine driver eye glance behavior during car following. Results indicate the conditions in car following when drivers looked away from the road ahead, the distribution of glance durations when looking away, and the distribution of where drivers looked away from the road ahead.

The objective for this study was to revisit some of the known factors that affect legibility including font characteristics, as well as, contrast polarity, luminance contrast, and color contrast under high ambient conditions as specified in SAE J1757. The study focused on older drivers due to their increased visual needs and limitations. The study was conducted in 2 phases: 1) a study of font characteristics; character height, character width, and stroke width using a central composite design. Subjects read a group of letters and numerals displayed on a laptop display using occlusion goggles. The reading time (Total Shutter Open Time or TSOT), reading errors, and a subjective Readability Rating (using a 4 point scale "Very Easy," "Easy," "Difficult," "Very Difficult") were recorded. Licensed drivers in three age groups, 25 to 44 yrs, 45 to 59 yrs, and 61 to 91 yrs participated. The response surfaces were generated and compared to the character sizes recommended in ISO 15008.