Supporting driver headway choice: The effects of discrete headway feedback when following headway instructions

With specific headway instructions drivers are not able to attain the exact headways as instructed. In this study, the effects of discrete headway feedback (and the direction of headway adjustment) on headway accuracy for drivers carrying out time headway instructions were assessed experimentally. Two groups of each 10 participants (one...

Target detection and driving behaviour measurements in a driving simulator at mesopic light levels

During night-time driving hazardous objects often appear at mesopic light levels, which are typically measured using light meters with a spectral sensitivity that is only valid for photopic light levels. In order to develop suitable mesopic models a target detection experiment was performed in a driving simulator. While subjects drove along a...

Human-factors engineering for smart transport: Decision support for car drivers and train traffic controllers

The theme Smart Transport can be described as adequate human-system symbiosis to realize effective, efficient and human-friendly transport of goods and information. This paper addresses how to attune automation to human (cognitive) capacities (e.g. to take care of information uncertainty, operator trust and mutual man-machine adaptations). An...

Stimuli fixation and manual response as a function of expectancies

Two experiments investigated effects of expectations on eye fixations and responses to expected and unexpected information in a laboratory setting. Stimulus fixation and manual responses to predefined targets among distractors were measured in a dynamic environment shown on a monitor. Participants were part of either a predictable condition ...

Image parameters for driving with indirect viewing systems

Indirect viewing systems such as tv cameras can potentially support drivers under low visibility conditions or when the driver's field of view (FOV) is restricted. In three experiments, we identified the critical image parameters of such systems on vehicle control. We used a taskbattery that measured lateral and longitudinal vehicle control in...

Speed choice and steering behavior in curve driving

The relation between speed choice and steering performance during curve negotiation was studied in a driving simulator. The hypothesis was that curve radius and steering competence both affect steering error during curve driving, resulting in compensatory speed choice. In this, the control of safety margins was assumed to operate as a regulatory...

The limits of path error-neglecting in straight lane driving

It is argued that driving cannot simply be considered as a permanent, closed-loop task. Time-to-line-crossing (TLC) is used as a measure to quantify the potential role of visual open-loop and path-error-neglecting strategies. Basically, TLC represents the time available for a driver to neglect path errors until the moment at which any part of...

Precognitive control: open- and closed-loop steering in a lane-change manoeuvre

This paper presents two experiments in which steering a lane-change manoeuvre is analysed as a precognitive control task. The suggestion that the dependence on instantaneous visual feedback is low during such a task was tested by analysing steering performance under conditions both with and without visual occlusion. Steering force served as the...