Supporting car-following behavior through V2V-based beyond-visual-range information display
DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2026.103551
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Summary
This study addresses the prevalence of rear-end collisions, which constitute a significant portion of road incidents, by investigating how vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication can support human drivers through beyond-visual-range (BVR) information. While previous research focused on information within a driver’s visual range, this work explores whether providing data about indirect leading vehicles (vehicles ahead of the direct lead) can improve car-following safety and proactive decision-making. The research aims to determine the most effective human-machine interface (HMI) designs for visualizing this BVR information without overloading drivers or impairing their visual attention. To evaluate this, the authors conducted a driving simulator experiment with 40 participants, balanced between novice and experienced drivers. The study employed a mixed experimental design featuring a baseline condition and four distinct HMI concepts displayed on a head-up display: Brake-HMI (showing brake lights of the indirect lead), Distance-HMI (showing bumper-to-bumper distance), Headway-HMI (showing time headway relative to a safety threshold), and Video-HMI (showing a live video stream from the direct lead’s perspective). Participants performed car-following tasks on a suburban road involving both normal driving and chain-braking events with varying deceleration rates. Data collection included driving performance metrics (response time, minimum time-to-collision, time headway), eye-tracking data to assess visual attention and gaze dispersion, and subjective measures of mental workload and usability. The results demonstrated that BVR information generally improved car-following safety by enabling quicker brake responses and increasing time headway and time-to-collision during braking events, without increasing subjective mental workload or impairing gaze dispersion. Specifically, the Brake-HMI yielded the safest performance in chain-brake events, significantly reducing response times compared to the baseline and other HMIs. It also achieved the highest perceived usability and learnability. In contrast, the Video-HMI increased attentional demands without providing observable safety benefits and resulted in lower minimum time headways compared to the Brake-HMI. The Headway-HMI also improved response times but was less effective than the Brake-HMI in maintaining safe headways. The significance of this research lies in its practical insights for designing V2V-based HMIs to enhance safety in human-driven vehicles. The findings suggest that symbolic, action-oriented information (such as brake status) is more effective for supporting car-following behavior than complex spatial data or video streams, which may impose unnecessary cognitive loads. This supports the development of connected vehicle technologies that prioritize clear, actionable alerts to mitigate rear-end collisions and phantom traffic jams, particularly in mixed traffic environments where human drivers remain prevalent.
Key finding
The brake action indicator interface produced the safest car-following performance and highest usability scores, whereas the live video stream increased attentional demands without offering safety benefits.
Methodology
simulator
Sample size: 40
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-28 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 5 | 2026-06-06 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-07 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-07 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-07 |
| enrich | failed | — | — | — | 5 | 2026-07-02 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Applied Guidance: design guidelines
- Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
- Methodological Resource: tool software