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MRDrive: An Open Source Mixed Reality Driving Simulator for Automotive User Research

Patrick Ebel, Michał Patryk Miazga, Martin Lorenz, Timur Getselev, Pavlo Bazilinskyy, Celine Conzen

TL;DR

The capabilities of MRDrive are demonstrated through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario.

Abstract

Designing and evaluating in-vehicle interfaces requires experimental platforms that combine ecological validity with experimental control. Driving simulators are widely used for this purpose. However, they face a fundamental trade-off: high-fidelity physical simulators are costly and difficult to adapt, while virtual reality simulators provide flexibility at the expense of physical interaction with the vehicle. In this work, we present MRDrive, an open mixed-reality driving simulator designed to support HCI research on in-vehicle interaction, attention, and explainability in manual and automated driving contexts. MRDrive enables drivers and passengers to interact with a real vehicle cabin while being fully immersed in a virtual driving environment. We demonstrate the capabilities of MRDrive through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario. MRDRive is available at: https://github.com/ciao-group/mrdrive

MRDrive: An Open Source Mixed Reality Driving Simulator for Automotive User Research

TL;DR

The capabilities of MRDrive are demonstrated through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario.

Abstract

Designing and evaluating in-vehicle interfaces requires experimental platforms that combine ecological validity with experimental control. Driving simulators are widely used for this purpose. However, they face a fundamental trade-off: high-fidelity physical simulators are costly and difficult to adapt, while virtual reality simulators provide flexibility at the expense of physical interaction with the vehicle. In this work, we present MRDrive, an open mixed-reality driving simulator designed to support HCI research on in-vehicle interaction, attention, and explainability in manual and automated driving contexts. MRDrive enables drivers and passengers to interact with a real vehicle cabin while being fully immersed in a virtual driving environment. We demonstrate the capabilities of MRDrive through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario. MRDRive is available at: https://github.com/ciao-group/mrdrive
Paper Structure (14 sections, 3 figures)

This paper contains 14 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. MRDrive
  4. Software
  5. IVIS
  6. Driving Environment
  7. Hardware
  8. Cabin Mock-Up
  9. Head-Mounted Display
  10. Additional Hardware
  11. Pilot Study
  12. Study Procedure and Data Collection
  13. Results
  14. Conclusion and Future Work

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Overview of the MRDrive system architecture.
  • Figure 2: MRDrive supports different levels of mock-up integration, ranging from a fully virtual cabin to a real vehicle.
  • Figure 3: This graph shows how the pupil diameter of the two study participants changed over the course of the experiment and when participants decided to request an explanation by interacting with the center stack touchscreen.