Basic collision warning and driver information systems : human factors research needs : summary report

NHTSA · 1998 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Highway Administration

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Summary

This summary report outlines the human factors research needs for integrating basic collision warning and driver information systems into vehicles, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI). The research was motivated by the need to design usable in-vehicle safety technologies that provide manageable information to drivers, with specific attention to the growing demographic of older drivers and their implications for highway safety. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted this investigation through a December 1997 workshop involving IVI stakeholders, including universities, automotive manufacturers, and vendors, alongside a preliminary assessment of infrastructure and in-vehicle requirements. The report focuses on one of five identified system configurations: the "Basic Safety and Driver Information Configuration," which includes adaptive cruise control, rear-end collision avoidance, obstacle detection, navigation, real-time traffic information, and automatic collision notification. The primary research issue identified is the joint use of visual, auditory, and tactile display modalities to ensure the discriminability, recognition, and interpretation of in-vehicle messages. A critical challenge is managing the competition for the driver’s information processing resources between urgent collision warnings and less urgent traveler information, such as routing data. The report emphasizes the need for specific design guidelines and standards that allow IVI developers to quickly apply modality recommendations, rather than relying on vague heuristics. Current design tools are noted to be insufficient as they primarily address Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) data and lack guidance on tactile displays. Secondary research issues include driver performance, acceptance, and workload, with the goal of establishing benchmark data for this configuration as a baseline for future IVI development. Specific research objectives include determining how drivers react to integrated, multi-function displays presenting both safety and traveler information, assessing preferences for distributed versus single integrated displays, and evaluating reactions to the concurrent presentation of collision avoidance and ATIS information. The study aims to identify design strategies that help drivers selectively focus on the most urgent information without becoming overloaded. The identified research directions focus on optimizing the combination of display modalities, ensuring timely action on high-priority safety messages, examining user preferences for integrated systems, and effectively managing overlapping information presentation. This work, conducted by the Battelle Human Factors Transportation Center, provides a foundational framework for developing human-centric design standards for intelligent transportation systems, ensuring that technological advancements in vehicle safety are matched by appropriate ergonomic and cognitive support for drivers.

Key finding

The primary research need is to develop specific design guidelines and modality recommendations that enable drivers to accurately and timely process urgent collision warnings while managing concurrent traveler information without cognitive overload.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Topics

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• feedback modes
• hud ar windshield
• auditory warnings
• haptic feedback
• multimodal feedback
• ehmi external hmi
• multisensory crossmodal

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Applied Guidance: design guidelines
• Synthesis & Review: research agenda