Evaluation of Haptic Patterns on a Steering Wheel

Infotainment Systems can increase mental workload and divert visual attention away from looking ahead on the roads. When these systems give information to the driver, provide it through the tactile channel on the steering, it wheel might improve driving behaviour and safety. This paper describes an investigation into the perceivability of haptic feedback patterns using an actuated surface on a steering wheel. Six solenoids were embedded along the rim of the steering wheel creating three bumps under each palm. Maximally, four of the six solenoids were actuated simultaneously, resulting in 56 patterns to test. Participants were asked to keep in the middle road of the driving simulator as good as possible. Overall recognition accuracy of the haptic patterns was 81.3%, where identification rate increased with decreasing number of active solenoids (up to 92.2% for a single solenoid). There was no significant increase in lane deviation or steering angle during haptic pattern presentation. These results suggest that drivers can reliably distinguish between cutaneous patterns presented on the steering wheel. Our findings can assist in delivering non-critical messages to the driver (e.g. driving performance, incoming text messages, etc.) without decreasing driving performance or increasing perceived mental workload

Optimum design of haptic seat for driving simulator

This work aims to design and develop an optimal vibrotactile seat to provide a high level of satisfaction to the driver. The main critical design parameters were considered and experiments were conducted to investigate the proper values of voltage, frequency, and amplitude that are specifically related to the developed haptic seat.UREP award [UREP 14- 102 - 2 - 035] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation).Scopu

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems first annual report

The IVBSS program is a four-year, two phase cooperative research program being conducted by an industry team led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The program began in November 2005 and will continue through December 2009 if results from vehicle verification tests conducted in the second year of the program indicate that the prototype system meets its performance guidelines and is safe for use by lay drivers in a field operational test planned for July 2008. The decision to execute Phase II of the program will take place in December 2007. The goal of the IVBSS program is to assess the safety benefits and driver acceptance associated with a prototype integrated crash warning system designed to address rear-end, road departure and lane change/merge crashes on light vehicles and heavy commercial trucks. This report describes accomplishments and progress made during the first year of the program (November 2005-December 2006). Activities during the first year focused on system specification, design and development and construction of the prototype vehicles.National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57183/1/99863.pd