HUD feedback to minimize the risk of cellular phone use and number entry while driving

Abstract

There has been considerable public debate as to whether people should be allowed to use cell phones while driving. In several countries, this debate has led to restrictions on cell phone use while driving. Japanese data suggests that answering a call might be the most dangerous task, followed by dialing. Several questions were therefore selected for further investigation. 1. How does the dialing device and its location affect task time, errors, driving performance, and ratings of workload? 2. How does the location of the display (especially head-up displays) affect those same measures? 3. For various control-display combinations, how are those measures affected by driving workload? The experiment will be comprised of two distinct portions. In the first portion, subjects will drive a simulator on straight roads (implying controlled workload) while dialing a 10-digit telephone number using 6 device configurations with various displays. During the second test portion, participants will drive a simulator on roads with curves of different radii while entering phone numbers for 3 different device combinations. The following device/location configurations will be examined: (1) 10-key keypad on the steering wheel spoke, (2) 10-key keypad on the center console, (3) joystick on the steering wheel spoke, (4) joystick mounted on the center console, (5) hand held 10- key keypad, (6) a cross key on the touch screen, and (7) a 10 key keypad on the touch screen. These devices will be used for 3 display conditions: (1) head up display, (2) monitor mounted in the center console, or (3) no display.