The Effects of Conformal Navigation Symbology on Drivers' Visual Search
M.A. Schotman (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
Joost C.F. Winter – Mentor (TU Delft - Human-Robot Interaction)
Y.B. Eisma – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Human-Robot Interaction)
Dimitra Dodou – Coach (TU Delft - Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology)
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Abstract
Driving often requires dividing attention between scanning the environment and following navigation instructions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of conformal and non-conformal navigation symbology on drivers' visual search. A driving simulator study was conducted where participants drove with conformal and non-conformal navigation symbology while performing an active visual search task consisting of detecting visual stimuli. The stimuli were highly transparent, yellow spheres projected on the side of the road. Eighteen participants drove three trials using different navigation symbology while their eye-movements were being recorded. Results showed a significant reduction in miss rate by 14% (from 44% to 38%) and a significant increase in mean fixation duration on visual stimuli by 16% (from 227 ms to 263 ms) when using conformal symbology. Eye-movements had a trend to be calmer during the use of conformal symbology indicated by lower saccade lengths. Furthermore, subjective ratings showed a clear preference for the conformal symbology. The findings of this study provide additional evidence for the benefits of conformal symbology within an automotive context, showing drivers to have an improved ability to sample the outside scene.