Abstract
The purpose of the present research is to investigate the influences of implementing telecommunication, information or vehicular technologies into the vehicles on driving behaviors. In addition, this research intends to develop the human factors design suggestions for the advanced vehicle systems in order to achieve the goals of enhancing driving performance and promoting road safety. Through the use of virtual environment technologies, a desktop driving simulator is constructed in the laboratory and the following topics, belonged to the subsystem of advanced vehicle systems, are explored: (1) Telecommunication systems: focus on the pros and cons of hands-free mobile phone usage during driving. (2) In-vehicle information systems: emphasize on the comparisons of navigation systems and the display design of traffic congestion information. Research is conducted in virtual driving environments to observe and collect driving-related behaviors and reactions. Thereafter, the effects of introducing new technologies on drivers are analyzed and empirically verified. Finally, based on the experimental results and the human-centered vehicular design considerations, the human factors design principles and recommendations for the advanced vehicle systems are proposed. 中文摘要 ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The importance of this research 1.2 Intelligent highway and vehicle systems 1.3 Three major subsystems of advanced vehicle systems 1.4 The purposes of this research 2. LITERATURE BACKGROUND 2.1 Driving behavior 2.2 Literatures about hands-free mobile phone usage 2.3 Literatures about comparison of in-vehicle navigation systems 2.4 Literatures about presentation of congestion information 2.5 Virtual-environment technologies 3. EFFECTS OF HANDS-FREE MOBILE PHONE USAGE 3.1 Methods 3.1.1 Subjects 3.1.2 Experimental design 3.1.2.1 Independent variables 3.1.2.2 Dependent variables 3.1.3 Apparatus 3.1.4 Procedures 3.2 Results 3.2.1 Reaction time 3.2.2 Tracking bias and speed control 3.2.3 Subjective ranking 3.3 Discussion 4. COMPARISONS OF IN-VEHICLE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS 4.1 Methods 4.1.1 Subjects 4.1.2 Experimental design 4.1.2.1 Independent variables 4.1.2.2 Dependent variables 4.1.3 Apparatus 4.1.4 Procedures 4.2 Results 4.2.1 A traditional paper map vs. electronic maps 4.2.2 Comparisons among electronic route maps 4.2.2.1 Trip duration 4.2.2.2 Number of navigation errors 4.2.3 Heart rate 4.3 Discussion 5. PRESENTATION OF CONGESTION INFORMATION 5.1 Methods 5.1.1 Subjects 5.1.2 Experimental design 5.1.2.1 Independent variables 5.1.2.2 Dependent variables 5.1.2.3 Experimental layouts 5.1.3 Apparatus 5.1.4 Procedures 5.2 Results and Discussion 5.2.1 Demographic variables 5.2.2 Performance measures 5.2.2.1 Driving speed 5.2.2.2 Trip duration 5.2.2.3 Missing response 5.2.3 Subjective ratings 6. CONCLUSIONS 6.1 Contributions 6.2 Limitations 6.3 Further study REFERENCES