<p>At night or in bad weather, the task of driving is very complex since the amount of visual information available is severely reduced. Vision Enhancement Systems may compensate for parts of the missing information by supplying the driver with a picture of the world where warm objects are made visible. This thesis investigates the impact of Vision Enhancement System display types on cognitive capture and driving performance. 16 subjects were recruited for a simulator study. It was hypothesised that when the contrast of a transparent display is high enough for the driver to separate the picture from the background and make out enough details to interpret it, the risk of cognitive capture is higher than when using an opaque display with the same objects visible. The subjects’ driving performance and opinions about the driving experience were also investigated. No significant differences in driving performance or level of cognitive capture was found. However, questionnaire answers indicate that this question needs to be investigated further to find out whether one display type is preferable because of better and safer driving performance or if individual differences between drivers require the possibility to choose the display type of their personal preference.</p>

At night or in bad weather, the task of driving is very complex since the amount of visual information available is severely reduced. Vision Enhancement Systems may compensate for parts of the missing information by supplying the driver with a picture of the world where warm objects are made visible. This thesis investigates the impact of Vision Enhancement System display types on cognitive capture and driving performance. 16 subjects were recruited for a simulator study. It was hypothesised that when the contrast of a transparent display is high enough for the driver to separate the picture from the background and make out enough details to interpret it, the risk of cognitive capture is higher than when using an opaque display with the same objects visible. The subjects’ driving performance and opinions about the driving experience were also investigated. No significant differences in driving performance or level of cognitive capture was found. However, questionnaire answers indicate that this question needs to be investigated further to find out whether one display type is preferable because of better and safer driving performance or if individual differences between drivers require the possibility to choose the display type of their personal preference.