Driver behaviour when using an integrated advisory warning display for advanced driver assistance systems

With the increasing amount of safety features that are being introduced in our vehicles, research on warning design has suggested that advisory warning information may benefit driving performance. This simulator driving study compared driver´s performance using an integrated advisory advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) display based on ecological interface design (EID) combined with critical warnings to three ADAS with warnings of a critical character only. Results show that drivers drove with safer distances to vehicles in front when they received combined advisory´critical warnings compared to critical warnings only. Further, participants maintained better lane positioning during both the critical and combined ADAS conditions compared to baseline driving. In addition, participants found the combined warnings made them more aware of the traffic situation than when driving with critical warnings only and that the display helped them notice potential dangers in the traffic environment. These results suggest that providing drivers with advisory ADAS information can be a good complement to the critical warnings found in vehicles today and that a combination of these warnings, if correctly designed, may benefit both driver performance and driver acceptance.