Second Life Prototyping of Augmented Automobile Navigation Assistance

The automobile industry has produced many cars with new features over the past decade. However, the interaction between the driver and the car has not changed significantly. The information being delivered - both in quantity and method - from the car to the driver has not seen the same improvements as there have been "under the hood." This paper proposes immersing the driver inside an additional layer of traffic and navigation data, and presenting that data to the driver by embedding display systems into the automobile windows and mirrors. Furthermore, we present a new technique for testing prototypes of such systems; an alternative to custom simulators or cars retrofitted with elaborate testing components. Our method of using the online virtual world Second Life to conduct driving simulations has the advantages of faster development time, lower costs, and simpler setups than many of the alternatives.