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Applying NHTSA task acceptance criteria to different simulated driving scenarios

Large, David R; van Loon, Editha; Burnett, Gary; Pournami, Sudeep

Authors

DAVID LARGE David.R.Large@nottingham.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellow

Editha van Loon

Gary Burnett

Sudeep Pournami



Abstract

Driver distraction is a major contributor to road traffic accidents. Consequently, NHTSA have published detailed guidelines intended to discourage the introduction of excessively distracting electronic devices in vehicles. However, concerns have been raised regarding the theoretical basis and ecological validity of the NHTSA Eye Glance Testing Using a Driving Simulator (EGDS) testing protocol. In particular, it has been noted that the driving scenario is over-simplified and acceptance is predicated on absolute measures determined from a poorly defined and out-dated reference task (‘radio-tuning’). Using a medium-fidelity driving simulator, a new prototype touchscreen interface was evaluated in full compliance with the NHTSA EGDS test protocol. As a comparison, the same interface was then tested using a well-established (‘standard’) driving scenario. Results show that the different scenarios elicited significantly different visual behaviour with drivers placing more emphasis (extended TEORT and MGD) on secondary task performance during the NHTSA scenario. Furthermore, driving performance measures indicated higher levels of ‘presence’ associated with the ‘standard’ environment. Conclusions are drawn regarding the effect of primary task demand on secondary task performance and NHTSA-compliance, and the validity of the proposed test scenario and reference task.

Citation

Large, D. R., van Loon, E., Burnett, G., & Pournami, S. (2015). Applying NHTSA task acceptance criteria to different simulated driving scenarios. In AutomotiveUI '15: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications, 117-124. doi:10.1145/2799250.2799254

Conference Name The 7th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications
Start Date Sep 1, 2015
End Date Sep 3, 2015
Acceptance Date Sep 1, 2015
Publication Date 2015
Deposit Date May 9, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages 117-124
Book Title AutomotiveUI '15: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications
ISBN 9781450337366
DOI https://doi.org/10.1145/2799250.2799254
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2035720
Publisher URL https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2799250.2799254