INVESTIGATION OF ALTERNATIVE DISPLAYS FOR SIDE COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEMS

Side Collision Avoidance Systems (SCAS) are designed to warn of impending collisions and can detect not only adjacent vehicles but vehicles approaching at such a speed that a collision would occur if a lane change were made. Side object detection systems (SODS) represent a subset of SCAS; they warn of the presence of adjacent vehicles only, whether or not there is a lane change. Despite a measure of success in producing first-generation SODS devices, relatively little is known about Driver Vehicle Interface (DVI) requirements for these complex human-machine systems. The DVI is important because it affects the ability of drivers to detect, understand, and correctly respond to the warning information presented by the system. In the current study, a large range of alternative SODS DVI designs were identified and evaluated to determine potential DVI characteristics that enhance driver acceptance. Key issues, including driver preferences for the format, location, and symbology of SODS alerts, were addressed using static mock-ups and displays in a driving simulator. With respect to the information provided to drivers by a SODS device, three types of information were perceived as valuable: 1) a status indication at vehicle start-up, 2) a caution alert under 'no intent to turn' situations, and 3) a hazard alert under 'intent to turn' situations. With respect to alert design for an 'intent to turn' situation, the Vehicle in Blind Spot, Prescriptive Arrow, and Descriptive Car Crash designs (all in red), accompanied by a tone seem to meet basic requirements of a SODS alert in terms of driver preference, perhaps because they provide directional information about the location of a potential threat vehicle. These alerts should be investigated further under more representative conditions in future research.