This paper is an overview of the findings of a series of human factors evaluations of Jaguar Cars' Night Vision system. To date there have been three sets of these evaluations, involving experiments using a car fitted with the night vision system. In each case a Head-Up Display unit was used to give an enhanced view of a portion of the road scene ahead using infrared illumination. Accidents at night and in conditions of reduced visibility are over-represented in relation to the number of miles driven in such conditions. Many people feel uncomfortable with night-time driving because of glare from on-coming vehicles or poor visual acuity. These problems particularly affect elderly drivers. Enabling drivers to detect objects at night also enhances the safety of more vulnerable road users. Potential disadvantages or safety implications of the new technology have been considered. The current technology processes the information before display in digitised form. This use of digital signal processing means that the image can be altered to improve the clarity of the scene. (A)
Abstract