Integration Requirements Definition for Connected Vehicle Interfaces
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has initiated activities focused on advancing connectivity among vehicles and the roadway infrastructure. A connected surface transportation system has the potential to significantly improve the safety, mobility, and environmental impacts of the network; however, integration of this new technology and its associated user-interfaces into the vehicle presents human factors challenges. This study seeks to address these challenges by assessing safety concerns arising from the potential for connected vehicle communications (CVC) applications and devices to induce driver overload and distraction.
Already apparent in the present day, connectivity within vehicles results in a number of new technologies that are accessed by the driver while a vehicle is in motion; such devices range from technologies that have been integrated by the vehicle manufacturer to nomadic devices, such as smart phones, that are carried in by the driver. The inclusion of this diverse range of devices has safety concerns due to the potential to induce driver overload and distraction, and many of these devices have the ability to also employ CVC applications, potentially increasing these driving hazards.
Therefore, the USDOT has created a research program in human factors focused on CVC which will seek to provide behavioral- and technology-based research for reducing driver workload and distraction from devices employing CVC applications. Under this program, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has contracted with Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) to perform research focused on reducing possible driver distraction from CVC devices.
Many gaps exist in current research relevant to this type of system. VTTI's research will address the following questions:
- What is the difference in distraction potential between different device types?
- Which application types are appropriate on which devices?
- What are the implications of including non-fixed displays into CVC?
- What guidelines are appropriate for addressing the integration of various devices?
Through a test-track evaluation in which CVC applications are executed on several devices, this study will compare driver performance across the envisioned device and application types for CVC, with integrated, aftermarket, retrofit, and nomadic devices displaying safety, mobility and environmental applications. This research will also utilize previous results, obtained from VTTI's CICAS-V study, in the event of an imminent collision warning, as presented using different display types.
As a result of this and other human factors research being conducted in parallel under this program, VTTI with support from Battelle Memorial Institute will develop a framework for the Human Factors Guidelines for CVC; this document is intended to support the regulatory V2V decision scheduled by NHTSA for 2013 and will be modified and updated as the overall research program progresses, resulting in a highly refined and complete guidelines document approved by both domain experts and end-users. VTTI will also oversee and provide guidance to University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) on the development of the Human Factors for CVC ConOps, a reference which will document the system's key performance measures and provide a basic plan for how the system will be validated, facilitating a shared understanding by the system owners, operators, maintainers, and developers.