Effects of Volumetric Augmented Reality Displays on Human Depth Judgments: Implications for Heads-Up Displays in Transportation

Many driving scenarios involve correctly perceiving road elements in depth and manually responding as appropriate. Of late, augmented reality (AR) head-up displays (HUDs) have been explored to assist drivers in identifying road elements, by using a myriad of AR interface designs that include world-fixed graphics perceptually placed in the forward driving scene. Volumetric AR HUDs purportedly offer increased accuracy of distance perception through natural presentation of oculomotor cues as compared to traditional HUDs. In this article, the authors quantify participant performance matching virtual objects to real-world counterparts at egocentric distances of 7-12 meters while using both volumetric and fixed-focal plane AR HUDs. The authors found the volumetric HUD to be associated with faster and more accurate depth judgements at far distance, and that participants performed depth judgements more quickly as the experiment progressed. The authors observed no differences between the two displays in terms of reported simulator sickness or eye strain.