Objective We controlled participants’ glance behavior while using head-down displays (HDDs) and head-up displays (HUDs) to isolate driving behavioral changes due to use of different display types across different driving environments. Background Recently, HUD technology has been incorporated into vehicles, allowing drivers to, in theory, gather display information without moving their eyes away from the road. Previous studies comparing the impact of HUDs with traditional displays on human performance show differences in both drivers’ visual attention and driving performance. Yet no studies have isolated glance from driving behaviors, which limits our ability to understand the cause of these differences and resulting impact on display design. Method We developed a novel method to control visual attention in a driving simulator. Twenty experienced drivers sustained visual attention to in-vehicle HDDs and HUDs while driving in both a simple straight and empty roadway environment and a more realistic driving environment that included traffic and turns. Results In the realistic environment, but not the simpler environment, we found evidence of differing driving behaviors between display conditions, even though participants’ glance behavior was similar. Conclusion Thus, the assumption that visual attention can be evaluated in the same way for different types of vehicle displays may be inaccurate. Differences between driving environments bring the validity of testing HUDs using simplistic driving environments into question. Application As we move toward the integration of HUD user interfaces into vehicles, it is important that we develop new, sensitive assessment methods to ensure HUD interfaces are indeed safe for driving.
Factors influencing visual attention switch in multi-display user interfaces