Over the past several years, passenger car manufacturers have introduced production automobiles which can present visual information to the driver by way of a Head-Up Display (or HUD). This paper reviews research aimed at addressing the claim that HUDs improve the driver's ability to see forward scene events and provides a more detailed analysis of previously reported visual sampling data from an in-traffic study addressing the effect of a HUD speedometer on driver behaviour. This latter analysis indicated HUD time savings in visual scanning time from the roadway to the speedometer (32ms shorter), speedometer fixation time (7Oms shorter) and visual scanning time from the speedometer back to the roadway (32ms shorter). These visual sampling results are used to support the concept of a "HUD benefit time window," which refers to the time period during which it is proposed HUDs may improve the driver's ability to see forward scene events and hence, traffic safety.
Abstract