An Eye Gaze Heatmap Analysis of Uncertainty Head-Up Display Designs for Conditional Automated Driving

TL;DR

It is found interruptions initiated a phase during which participants interleaved their attention between monitoring and entertainment, suggesting pre-warning interruptions have positive effects and Intermittent interruptions may have safety benefits over placing additional peripheral displays without compromising usability.

Abstract

This paper reports results from a high-fidelity driving simulator study (N=215) about a head-up display (HUD) that conveys a conditional automated vehicle's dynamic "uncertainty" about the current situation while fallback drivers watch entertaining videos. We compared (between-group) three design interventions: display (a bar visualisation of uncertainty close to the video), interruption (interrupting the video during uncertain situations), and combination (a combination of both), against a baseline (video-only). We visualised eye-tracking data to conduct a heatmap analysis of the four groups' gaze behaviour over time. We found interruptions initiated a phase during which participants interleaved their attention between monitoring and entertainment. This improved monitoring behaviour was more pronounced in combination compared to interruption, suggesting pre-warning interruptions have positive effects. The same addition had negative effects without interruptions (comparing baseline & display). Intermittent interruptions may have safety benefits over placing additional peripheral displays without compromising usability.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: Three Uncertainty Interventions are tested against a baseline (just a display) in this study design. Intervention 1 (top) adds to the display the “Guardian Angel”, a visualisation of uncertainty with colour and size-changing bars. Intervention 2 (centre) interrupts the NDRA by increasing uncertainty. Intervention 3 combines Intervention 1, the visualisation and Intervention 2 the Interruption.
• Figure 2: Remote data collection tool for quantifying the driving environment by experts. They rated from stable (0) to unstable (9) by rotating their mouse wheel. The colour of the bar changed from green over yellow to red as additional feedback
• Figure 3: Size of NDRA Displays is designed to enable the peripheral vision of driving scene and uncertainty display based on Wolfe2017-dq
• Figure 4: The NDRA display in the simulator setup driving scene with the useful field of with the loss of resolution in the periphery according to Geisler & Perry model Geisler1998-jc (note: blur added for illustration purposes only)
• Figure 5: A representation of a superimposed marker in the driving environment that the participants were asked to click respond to (red box for paper presentation purpose only)