Driving Simulation

Automobile related accidents are one of the leading causes of death for young adults in the United States. Drivers are paying less attention to the road and more to their phones. The Driving Simulation & Eye Tracking for Human Performance Research Creative Inquiry project is mentored by Dr. Dustin Souders, Dr. Shubham Agrawal and graduate students Kathryn Baringer, Alan Mintz and Tyler Riley from the Department of Psychology. They seek to improve the safety of today’s roads by studying the impacts of distractions and driver monitoring systems, a device that re-engages drivers using technology.

The team uses a research design that involves the manipulation of focused attention, wind speed and frequency of distraction. Participants are given the task of driving down a highway while simultaneously completing another task. They read aloud a set of numbers displayed on the tablet in the center console of the simulator, which simulates a distraction similar to texting while driving. During the trials, the team manipulates the wind speed of the simulation and how much focus should be given to each task.

While in the simulation, participants wear eye trackers which allows the team to study scanning patterns. This data is also valuable to automotive companies. It informs vehicle designers of what is distracting to the drivers. “If we can predict factors about how things may be more distracting or less distracting and look at the effects of different variables there, hopefully, we get a better handle on how to keep people engaged in the driving task,” Mintz said.

The team’s results show there is a significant difference in reaction times between older adults and younger adults. It is easier for younger adults to switch their attention from the road to the tablet and back to the road without moving outside the lane or going completely off the track. “It is really just a skill drop-off thing and kind of what you know versus what you grow up with,” Adam Razavi, a senior psychology major, said.

In the future, the team plans to analyze older and younger adults’ automation preferences and performance with various driver monitoring systems. They will compare a system that reminds drivers to keep their hands on the wheel by using a pressure sensor with another that reminds drivers to keep their eyes on the road through monitoring facial expressions. Along with preferences, the team will examine the safety of each system by measuring how close the participants come to crashing when given a critical situation, such as when a car swerves on the road.

“Almost 40,000 people die a year on U.S. roads in car accidents,” Souders said. The team hopes to decrease this number by improving driver monitoring systems and bringing people’s attention back to the road.