INTERACTION
Information and communication technologies provide drivers with access to various functions and services which, if designed ergonomically and used appropriately, could significantly enhance driver safety, mobility, enjoyment and comfort. |
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However, experiments have shown that systems which are poorly designed or used inappropriately can have negative side effects, such as driver distraction, lapses in attention and poor awareness of the driving situation.
Two questions which previous experiments have not answered are how drivers interact with these systems in everyday driving situations, and how long-term system use affects driver behaviour, performance and safety.
INTERACTION is a European project which aims to answer these questions, so that safety issues in relation to in-vehicle technology design and use can be addressed, and the potential benefits of existing and emerging in-vehicle technologies are realised. The project team includes ten European partners (ERT-INRETS as co-ordinators, TRL, CDV, CTAG, FACTUM, ISEC, INTEMPORA, SWOV and VTT) from eight countries and also two Australian institutes (MUARC and GI.)
As part of the research, TRL will be equipping cars belonging to participant drivers with sensors, to record their interactions with in-vehicle technologies as they go about their daily driving tasks. Participants will simply drive where and when they want, using their own car and their own in-vehicle technologies. This will provide valuable insights into the use of these technologies based on the personal travel behaviour of the individual, rather than by any direct experimental manipulation. It will also allow the effects of in-vehicle technology use on driver behaviour and performance to be measured. This method is called ‘naturalistic driving' and is the best way to observe drivers' use and misuse of in-vehicle technologies in daily life. It has the advantage of minimising the potential effects of having an experimenter present observing the participant's actions, giving a true picture of real-world behaviour.
Within the UK, the naturalistic driving study will be supplemented by a web-based questionnaire survey of 1000 drivers and experimental observations of driver behaviour. By replicating the same approach in different countries across Europe, the project also aims to understand cross-cultural differences in how drivers use in-vehicle technologies.
For more information on this project, please contact Dan Basacik on +44 (0)1344 770638 or dbasacik@trl.co.uk.
