Evaluation of a Simulator Based, Novice Driver Risk Awareness Training Program

An advanced training program on risk perception was developed and evaluated in a driving simulator. This training program included two elements. The first one was a PC-based Risk Awareness and Perception Program (RAPT) that had been developed and evaluated in several studies by researches at the Human Performance Lab within the last several years. Plan views of risky scenarios were used to explain to participants the location of potential hazards. The second element of the training (SIMRAPT) was newly developed for this study and used the portable low-cost driving simulator Drive Square Simulation System to train risk perception skills while the participant actually drove a real car in a virtual environment. A head mounted display was used to present the virtual world. Feedback was given to participants when they failed to scan appropriately for hazards. Twelve novice drivers served as experimental group and were trained with the combined RAPT/SIMRAPT training program. Twelve other novice drivers were given training not relevant to hazard anticipation and served as the control group. After training, both groups were evaluated on an advanced driving simulator (different from the Drive Square Simulation System used in SIMRAPT training) and the eye movements of both groups of drivers were measured. The drivers’ score was based on whether or not their eye-fixations indicated recognition of potential risks in different driving situations. The evaluation included eight scenarios used in the RAPT/SIMRAPT training (near transfer scenarios) and eight scenarios that were not used in the training (far transfer scenarios). The results indicated that trained drivers are more likely than untrained drivers to fixate on regions where potential risks might appear. Further the evaluation indicates that the training effect of the combined training using both the PC (RAPT) and a low-cost driving simulator (SIMRAPT) is larger than for training programs that only use the PC, though not significantly so

The Effects of PC-Based Training on Novice Drivers\u27 Risk Awareness in a Driving Simulator

Novice drivers are almost nine times more likely to die in a crash thanmore experienced drivers. This increased risk has been found to be largely due tonovice drivers’ inability to predict the risks in the roadway ahead. A PC-basedRisk Awareness and Perception Training Program (RAPT) was developed toteach novice drivers about different categories of risky situations likely to beencountered while driving. The format was an interactive multimedia presentationwith both plan (i.e., top down) views and perspective views of roadway geometrythat illustrated generally risky scenarios along with information about the type ofrisks and the relevant areas that attention should be allocated to in order to detectthe risks. A set of novice drivers was trained with this program. The eyemovementsof the participants were then evaluated in a driving simulator todetermine whether areas of potential risk were fixated, and their performance wascompared to a separate set of untrained novice drivers. The ability of the novicedrivers to identify risks in static views improved after they completed the trainingprogram. More importantly, the trained novice drivers were significantly morelikely to correctly fixate on risk relevant areas in the simulated drivingenvironment than the untrained drivers 3-5 days after training

ADVANCED VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET BASED TRAINING TO IMPROVE YOUNG DRIVERS’ LATENT HAZARD ANTICIPATION ABILITY

Driving safety among young novice driver is one of the largest concern in the transportation domain. Many Paper-based or PC- based training program have been developed over the years to train the young novice driver to improve their driving skills (Hazard Anticipation). This training programs does help young novice driver to improve their situational awareness and so the hazard anticipation skills. But, there is one common problem with most of the currently available training programs. They are not very immersive, because such training program mostly provide plain view of the training scenario’s along with some description about the scenario and the subject trained in such training method needs to translate the provided knowledge in the plain view into the real-world driving. An Advanced training program on risk awareness and perception was developed and evaluated in Oculus rift platform. The primary objective is to train the young novice driver in the Virtual reality headset based risk awareness and perception training program and evaluate the trained driver in the driving simulator against the placebo trained young novice driver. The Virtual reality headset based risk awareness and perception training program (V-RAPT) is based on 3M Error-based Training approach where the driver will have 80 horizontal degrees’ and 90 vertical degrees’ field of view. Thirty-six drivers will receive training in the respective training methods- V-RAPT (Virtual reality headset based risk awareness and perception training), RAPT (PC- based risk awareness and perception training) and placebo training. Twelve young novice driver trained in the V-RAPT group will served as experimental group. Twenty-four other young novice will receive training in the RAPT and Placebo training respective will serve as control group. After training all three-group trained driver will be evaluated in the advanced driving simulator and the eye movement of the all thirty-six participants are recorded and measured. Vehicle measures such as acceleration, velocity and brake position is also recorded. The drivers’ score will based on whether or not their eye-fixations indicated recognition of potential risks in different high risk driving situations. The evaluation driver included six scenarios used in the V-RAPT training (near transfer scenarios) and four scenarios that were not used in the V-RAPT training (far transfer scenarios). Drivers who received the V-RAPT training are expected to drive more safely than the drivers who received either training. The V-RAPT trained drivers are expected to glance on regions (Hazard anticipation) where potential risks might appear than the drivers’ trained in the RAPT and Placebo training method. Further, The V-RAPT trained drivers are expected have slower average velocity and better brake position (Hazard mitigation) are compared to the driver trained in the other two training method

Can Young Drivers Learn to Anticipate Hidden Hazards: A Driving Simulator Study

Modern technology makes possible improvements in training programs designed to develop young drivers’ abilities to anticipate hazardous situations. These improvements which come from increases in the range of scenarios to which young drivers are exposed and the number of times young drivers can practice the skills they are learning. In this study, a new Flash-based, PC training program that runs on the web, Road Aware® (RA), is evaluated using a driving simulator. The program was developed by State Farm. Twenty-four young trained drivers and twenty four young untrained drivers were asked to drive various simulated hazardous scenarios while their gaze was monitored by an eye tracking system. The results show that trained drivers were more likely to anticipate hazards than their untrained peers, a difference which was present for both near transfer (scenarios that appeared in training) and far transfer scenarios. The effectiveness of RA is compared with other hazard anticipation training programs that were evaluated on a driving simulator and in the field. It appears every bit as effective in general and more effective for some scenarios. Additionally, there is evidence suggesting that, for the first time, young drivers can be trained to anticipate hazards as well as drivers who are older and more experienced

Comparison of Trained and Untrained Novice Drivers’ Gaze Behavior in Risky and Non-Risky Scenarios

PC-based training programs have been developed that have been shown to improve novice drivers’ hazard anticipation skills. Such programs give novice drivers information about particular driving situations (scenarios) where hidden threats could appear. We wanted to know whether this improvement in trained novice drivers’ scanning skills was simply because the trained drivers were scanning more in general or, instead, were scanning more specifically in the scenarios in which potential threats could appear. In order to evaluate this question, we trained 11 novice drivers using a PC-based program and then compared their hazard anticipation performance on a driving simulator with the hazard anticipation performance of 11 untrained novice drivers. The drivers’ eye movements were recorded for the duration of the drives. The glances of the drivers to the right (the correct response in most of the risky scenarios) were analyzed for each of the relevant risky scenarios and for stretches of non-risky situations. The trained drivers did look to the right 6.5% more in the non-risky situations than did the untrained drivers, although the difference was far from significant. However, the trained drivers looked to the right 32.7% more in the risky scenarios than in the non-risky situations, indicating they were discriminating quite well between the two situations. The untrained drivers also showed a smaller, but significant, discrimination between the risky scenarios and non-risky situations, as they looked to the right 18.9% more in the risky scenarios than in the non-risky stretches

Multiple-Session Simulator Training for Older Drivers and On-Road Transfer of Learning

Driving retraining classes may offer an opportunity to attenuate some of the aging manifestation that may alter driving skills. Unfortunately, there are suggestions that classroom programs do not allow to improve the driving performance of elderly drivers. The aim of this study was to evaluate if specific simulator training sessions with video-based feedback can modify on-road behaviors of elderly drivers. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, 10 elderly drivers who received feedback were tested before and after the training program with an on-road standardized evaluation. A control group (12 older drivers) also participated. Participants in this group received a classroom training program and similar exposure to driving in a simulator but without drivingspecific feedback. After attending the training program, the control group showed no modification of their driving performance (on-road score, frequency of successful turning maneuvers and frequency blind spot verification before lane change maneuvers). On the other hand, participants in the feedback group improved their driving skills for all maneuvers that were evaluated. These results suggest that simulator training transferred effectively to on-road performance. In order to be effective, driving programs should include active practice sessions with driving specific feedback

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Gaze-Based Training Intervention on Latent Hazard Anticipation Skills for Young Drivers: A Driving Simulator Study

A PC-based training program (Road Awareness and Perception Training or RAPT; Pradhan et al., 2009), proven effective for improving young novice drivers\u27 hazard anticipation skills, did not fully maximize the hazard anticipation performance of young drivers despite the use of similar anticipation scenarios in both, the training and the evaluation drives. The current driving simulator experiment examined the additive effects of expert eye movement videos following RAPT training on young drivers\u27 hazard anticipation performance compared to video-only and RAPT-only conditions. The study employed a between-subject design in which 36 young participants (aged 18-21) were equally and randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, were outfitted with an eye tracker and drove four unique scenarios on a driving simulator to evaluate the effect of treatment on their anticipation skills. The results indicate that the young participants that viewed the videos of expert eye movements following the completion of RAPT showed significant improvements in their hazard anticipation ability (85%) on the subsequent experimental evaluation drives compared to those young drivers who were only exposed to either the RAPT training (61%) or the Video (43%). The results further imply that videos of expert eye movements shown immediately after RAPT training may improve the drivers\u27 anticipation skills by helping them map and integrate the spatial and tactical knowledge gained in a training program within dynamic driving environments involving latent hazards. © 2018 by the authors

Attention Maintenance in Novice Drivers: Assessment and Training

All programs assessing attention maintenance inside the vehicle have required eye trackers and either a driving simulator or a specially equipped field vehicle. Ideally, one would like a way to assess attention maintenance that could be implemented on a desktop PC. Additionally, one would like to have a program that could be used to train novice drivers to maintain their attention more safely on the forward roadway. An experiment was run (a) to determine whether a program FOCAL (Focused Concentration and Attention Learning) using a desktop PC could differentiate between the attention maintenance skills of novice and experienced drivers and (b) to determine whether a program that improved the hazard anticipation skills of novice drivers might also improve their attention maintenance skills. FOCAL was able to differentiate between the attention maintenance skills of novice and experienced drivers. However, hazard anticipation training did not improve the attention maintenance skills of the novice drivers

Active training and driving-specific feedback improve older drivers' visual search prior to lane changes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Driving retraining classes may offer an opportunity to attenuate some effects of aging that may alter driving skills. Unfortunately, there is evidence that classroom programs (driving refresher courses) do not improve the driving performance of older drivers. The aim of the current study was to evaluate if simulator training sessions with video-based feedback can modify visual search behaviors of older drivers while changing lanes in urban driving.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the video-based feedback training, 10 older drivers who received a driving refresher course and feedback about their driving performance were tested with an on-road standardized evaluation before and after participating to a simulator training program (Feedback group). Their results were compared to a Control group (12 older drivers) who received the same refresher course and in-simulator active practice as the Feedback group without receiving driving-specific feedback.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After attending the training program, the Control group showed no increase in the frequency of the visual inspection of three regions of interests (rear view and left side mirrors, and blind spot). In contrast, for the Feedback group, combining active training and driving-specific feedbacks increased the frequency of blind spot inspection by 100% (32.3 to 64.9% of verification before changing lanes).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that simulator training combined with driving-specific feedbacks helped older drivers to improve their visual inspection strategies, and that in-simulator training transferred positively to on-road driving. In order to be effective, it is claimed that driving programs should include active practice sessions with driving-specific feedbacks. Simulators offer a unique environment for developing such programs adapted to older drivers' needs.</p

DRIVERS’ HAZARD AVOIDANCE DURING VEHICLE AUTOMATION: IMPACT OF MENTAL MODELS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are vehicle automation systems that have become more accessible and prevalent in vehicles in recent years. But the introduction of such technologies introduces new human factors challenges. Past literature suggests that users of vehicle automation lack the necessary and appropriate knowledge about their automation system. This may play a negative role in their hazard avoidance abilities when driving with automation features. Improving mental models and knowledge could generally lead to safer interactions with vehicle automation systems, but any effort to develop hazard avoidance skills when driving with vehicle automation is impeded by the lack of literature regarding the subject. Moreover, it is possible hazard avoidance for vehicle automation may actually differ from that for traditional driving. For vehicle automation, system-related changes occurring internally inside one’s vehicle also impact how the system responds and controls the vehicle. Failure to recognize certain critical system changes may have disastrous consequences. Hence, it is imperative that a new framework for hazard avoidance in the new context of vehicle automation, especially for ADAS features, is conceptualized. Initially, the research focused on realizing exactly this by proposing a conceptual framework for hazard avoidance in the context of vehicle automation by making use of past literary sources on hazard avoidance for traditional driving. Next, the relationship between mental models, training, and hazard avoidance was mapped and each new behavioral construct of hazard avoidance focusing on awareness, detection, and responses based on internal events was assigned potential outcome measure. Next, an observational study was conducted with ten experienced users of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). Among them, five were assigned to an eye movements group and five others to a verbal responses group. The eye movement observations gave us insights into how experienced users detect and respond to hazards and how these affect their interactions and responses using their ACC systems. The verbal group also provided insights about the participants’ awareness during the drive which featured several edge-case and normal events. These observations imply that hazard avoidance behaviors actually differ in the context of ADAS compared to traditional driving. The findings from the observational study were leveraged when designing and developing a new training program where drivers would receive an immersive and realistic training experience through a Virtual Reality (VR) headset. The main objective of the training program was to improve the user’s mental models about ACC and also equip them with the necessary skills to avoid hazard during edge case events of ACC. Finally, an evaluation study was conducted with 36 novice ACC users on a driving simulator capable of simulating ACC operations. The participants were equally and randomly assigned to one of three group – the VR group that received the newly designed VR training program; the SD group that received training material with state diagram visualization of ACC and other information derived from owner’s manuals; or the BI group that received basic textual information about ACC. The participants’ mental models before and after training were measured using a mental models survey, and the simulator drive was designed to collect valuable data about the participants interactions with ACC and their hazard avoidance behaviors. Findings revealed that although the VR training program had some impact on the participants\u27 mental models and hazard avoidance behaviors, the impact was not statistically significant. However, the VR training did show significantly positive influences on the participants’ internal glance activities that detect and assess system states, during edge case events. This finding is important since one of the modules of the VR training program was carefully curated to improve driver’s glance behavior when encountering edge case events of ACC. The results also establish the relationships between training and mental models although no significant correlations were found between the participants’ mental models and their hazard avoidance behaviors. However, this does fill a major gap in literature about our understanding about hazard avoidance in the context of vehicle automation and ADAS and could be extended for ADAS features other than ACC or even higher levels of automation. The VR training program can be built upon to include more ADAS features as well leading to better training practices in a rapidly developing world where vehicle automation has become a mainstay