In the present study steering accuracy in terms of the ability to keep to the middle of a lane in a fixed-base driving simulator was investigated. In particular, the dependence of steering accuracy on the visibility of different road sections was studied, on the assumption that performance reflects the importance of different road sections in guiding steering. Other influences on steering accuracy - including the presence of textural cues, in the form of a textured road surface, and the horizontal field of view - were also investigated. It was found that textural cues can improve accuracy in lateral lane control, presumably by providing strong optical flow, and that driving accuracy is little affected by increasing the horizontal field of view from 40 degrees to a full field of 180 degrees. (A)
Abstract