Driving performance in an instrumented vehicle was compared with performance in a low-cost, fixed-based driving simulator. Six men and six women drove a freeway route while periodically dailing simulated phone calls. Lane position, speed, steering-wheel angle, and throttle position were recorded. The same subjects drove a computer simulation of the route in the laboratory driving simulator using two scene fidelity levels: a color scene with relatively high detail, and a monochrome scene showing only road-edge markings. Lane-keeping in the simulator was less precise than on the road, but speed control performance was comparable. Lane keeping and speed control were less precise when dailing the phone than in normal driving, both in the simulator and on the road, but the performance decrement was greater in the simulator. Subjects over 60 years of age showed larger performance decrements during a concurrent phone dailing task than did subjects 20 to 30 years of age both in the simulator and on-road. No important differences in driving performance were found between the high and low simulator scene fidelity levels. Based on these findings, recommendations for improvements to the simulator were made.
Abstract