Projection information on the windshield of a vehicle affects the safety of driving

Last week, researchers from the University of Toronto опубликовали job , the conclusions of which warn drivers against excessive enthusiasm fashion system is projected on the windshield additional information related to the vehicle and your smartphone. This system, conceived as a driving aid, according to scientists actually increases the flow of information to be treated the driver and distracts him from the road.

Such systems are called Augmented-reality head-up displays (AR-HUD, or head-up displays with augmented reality). This technology, originally developed exclusively for military aircraft (primarily for fighter jets and helicopters), currently is used in civil aviation and automotive industries.

The pilot of the military plane forced to constantly assess how the environmental situation, and the testimony of numerous devices. The on-screen helmet necessary supplementary information to the view through the glass, facilitate his work.

On the establishment of such a system thinking and car manufacturers. The principle of operation of systems differs - here and built into the structure dashboard projectors , and navigators from the built-in projector , and even simple application for smartphones . If you put the smartphone on the dashboard, a reflection of his screen in the windshield will work as AR-HUD.



Theoretically, such a system does provide an advantage. You can display on the windshield the current speed, the recommendations of the navigator of the next corners, message notification on your phone time. Advanced systems can assist the driver, prompting the distance to the nearest vehicle, and offering opportunities for maneuvering.

Everything would be fine - but it does not happen. "Drivers have to distribute their attention by giving a part of its new visual information - says psychology professor Ian Spence. - Drivers need to focus not only on what is happening on the road around them, as usual, but also pay attention to all notices ».

The professor and his students developed a two-stage testing . First test on the computer checked his attention, counting on-screen random points. And in some cases it appears on the screen unpredictable square, which also had to try to see - it was a secondary visual stimulus.

It was found that 7-10% of cases, depending on the number of dots was counted which participants are passed to the appearance of additional square screen. In addition, the accuracy of calculating the number of points is also reduced. When attention was absorbed by the test one main task they cope with minor worse, and the quality of the main falling.

A driver is required not only to see and recognize something unexpected, but to react to it. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish between, say, warning of a possible collision and notification of the need to make a turn - otherwise compete with each other warning will cause more harm than good.

For this second test was complexity; and, together with the points that need to be considered, the screen may appear the figures of various shapes (triangle, square, rhombus). This test showed that the occurrence of additional figures often do not notice its shape or perceived wrong. In addition, it was found out that the speed of the main tasks was reduced by 200% when a more the area.

As a result of this study implies that the set of additional information, which should be complementary to the driver information about what is happening and to facilitate driving, in fact, most likely, will only distract him from the original problem - safely drive a car.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/252754/