Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to fundamentally change the way we interact with information. Direct perception of computer generated graphics atop physical reality can afford hands-free access to contextual information on the fly. However, as users must interact with both digital and physical information simultaneously, yesterday's approaches to interface design may not be sufficient to support the new way of interaction. Furthermore, the impacts of this novel technology on user experience and performance are not yet fully understood.
Driving is one of many promising tasks that can benefit from AR, where conformal graphics strategically placed in the real-world can accurately guide drivers' attention to critical environmental elements. The ultimate purpose of this study is to reduce pedestrian accidents through design of driver interfaces that take advantage of AR head-up displays (HUD). For this purpose, this work aimed to (1) identify information requirements for pedestrian collision warning, (2) design AR driver interfaces, and (3) quantify effects of AR interfaces on driver performance and experience.
Considering the dynamic nature of human-environment interaction in AR-supported driving, we took an ecological approach for interface design and evaluation, appreciating not only the user but also the environment. The requirement analysis examined environmental constraints imposed on the drivers' behavior, interface design translated those behavior-shaping constraints into perceptual forms of interface elements, and usability evaluations utilized naturalistic driving scenarios and tasks for better ecological validity.
A novel AR driver interface for pedestrian collision warning, the virtual shadow, was proposed taking advantage of optical see-through HUDs. A series of usability evaluations in both a driving simulator and on an actual roadway showed that virtual shadow interface outperformed current pedestrian collision warning interfaces in guiding driver attention, increasing situation awareness, and improving task performance. Thus, this work has demonstrated the opportunity of incorporating an ecological approach into user interface design and evaluation for AR driving applications. This research provides both basic and practical contributions in human factors and AR by (1) providing empirical evidence furthering knowledge about driver experience and performance in AR, and, (2) extending traditional usability engineering methods for automotive AR interface design and evaluation. / Ph. D. / On average, a pedestrian was killed every 2 hours and injured every 8 minutes on U.S. roadways in 2013. Most common driver errors responsible for pedestrian collisions were drivers’ lack of situation awareness due to low visibility or unexpected appearance of pedestrians. As a solution to the problem, automakers introduced pedestrian collision warnings, taking advantage of recent advances in sensor technology and pedestrian detection algorithms. Once pedestrians are detected in the vehicle’s path, warnings are given to the driver typically through auditory alarms and/or simple visual symbols. However, with current warnings that often lack spatial information, drivers need to further localize and evaluate approaching pedestrians’ movement for appropriate decision and reaction. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the most promising solutions to address the limitations of current warning interfaces. By overlaying computer generated conformal graphics atop physical reality, AR head up displays (HUDs) can guide drivers’ attention to dangerous pedestrians, affording direct perception of spatial information about those pedestrians.
The ultimate purpose of this work is to reduce pedestrian accidents by design of driver interfaces, taking advantage of AR HUDs. For this purpose, we aimed to (1) design a novel driver interface for cross traffic alerts, (2) prototype design ideas for a specific use-case of pedestrian collision warning, and (3) evaluate usability of the new design ideas in consideration of unique aspects of human-environment interaction with AR while driving.
We proposed a novel driver interface for pedestrian collision warning, the virtual shadow, which can cast shadows of approaching pedestrians to the vehicle’s path via AR HUDs. Usability evaluations in a driving simulator and a roadway showed the potential benefits of the proposed idea over existing warnings in driver attention management, situation awareness, task performance with reduced workload. Thus, this work demonstrated the capabilities of AR HUDs as intuitive and effective interfaces for vehicle drivers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/88886 |
| Date | 17 October 2017 |
| Creators | Kim, Hyungil |
| Contributors | Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gabbard, Joseph L., Lau, Nathan, North, Christopher L., Perez, Miguel A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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