Effect of in-vehicle driver information systems on driving performance : simulation studies.

Driving simulation studies have been conducted to evaluate driver distraction for a range of in-vehicle route guidance devices. While the initial simulations showed generally improved driving performance with virtually all electronic devices in comparison to a paper map, the second set of simulation studies elicited even more lucid findings. Voice guidance and a revised heads-up display (compared to the first experiment) yielded shortest reaction times, lowest subjective workload and strongest user preferences. The electronic map also performed well but a heads-down guidance screen, identical to the heads-up display, performed worse among electronic devices. (A)