Display in the Air: Balancing Distraction and Workload in AR Glasses Interfaces for Driving Navigation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how five icon placements for AR glasses navigation influence driver distraction and workload in driving tasks. It uses a mixed-methods design with a pilot real-world study and a formal within-subjects experiment across simulated and real driving, leveraging a lightweight AR glasses platform. Key findings show that non-central placements balance distraction and workload differently by context, with top-center favored in simulation and bottom-center favored in real-world driving; central locations tend to increase workload and distraction. The work provides four design implications for AR navigation interfaces and demonstrates the value of real-world testing for portable AR devices.

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) navigation via Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), particularly AR glasses, is revolutionizing the driving experience by integrating real-time routing information into the driver's field of view. Despite the potential of AR glasses, the question of how to display navigation information on the interface of these devices remains a valuable yet relatively unexplored research area. This study employs a mixed-method approach involving 32 participants, combining qualitative feedback from semi-structured interviews with quantitative data from usability questionnaires in both simulated and real-world scenarios. Highlighting the necessity of real-world testing, the research evaluates the impact of five icon placements on the efficiency and effectiveness of information perception in both environments. The experiment results indicate a preference for non-central icon placements, especially bottom-center in real world, which mostly balances distraction and workload for the driver. Moreover, these findings contribute to the formulation of four specific design implications for augmented reality interfaces and systems. This research advances the understanding of AR glasses in driving assistance and sets the stage for further developments in this emerging technology field.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: The simulated driving environment with a driving simulator and a projection screen (left) and the real-world navigation setup in a vehicle with AR glasses in use (right).
• Figure 2: Procedure of the simulated driving and real-world navigation experiment.
• Figure 3: Examples of navigation icons used in the study: the left image displays a turn indicator with distance and directional text for interface evaluation, while the middle and right images depict simplified turn indicators for simulated and real-world scenarios.
• Figure 4: Box plots depicting three ratings of icon positions P1 through P5 during simulated driving (left) and real-world navigation (right). Asterisks indicate significant differences between icon positions: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. The corresponding icon position visualization comparing the average scores for icon positions in both simulated driving and real-world navigation conditions, with color intensity indicating score magnitude.
• Figure 5: Cumulative bar chart of Distraction and Workload Level for simulated driving and real-world navigation scenarios, sorted by Distraction Level respectively.