Twelve subjects drove a 6-degree of freedom driving simulator with a three-screen 120-degree visual field under combinations of cab motion “on/off”and steering feedback “on/off” states. In each of the four combination runs, each subject was asked to perform nine distracting tasks such as get a map from the door map pocket, answer a cell phone, find coins to pay toll, etc. During the runs, their eye glance behavior and driving performancewere measured by recording their eyes, vehicle lane position, velocity, and occurrences of accidents. At the end of each combination run, the subjects were asked to rate each task using six 10-point NASA TLX workload scales related to mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort and frustration. The results showed the presence or absence of steering feedback had no significant effect on the behavioral and performance related response measures, and the NASA TLX ratings. Similarly, most response variables were not significantly affected by the presence or absence of the motion feedback. The tasks had significant effects on number of glances, task completion time, longest glance duration, number of lane deviations, and all the six NASA TLX rating components.
Abstract