Driver Behavioral Adaptation to In-Vehicle Technologies: Influence of Demands and Exposures

Abstract

In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) can assist drivers by increasing both safety and efficiency, but may also divert drivers' attention away from the road and cause distractions. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the effect of entering and reading text while driving, and how the drivers adapt their behavior over time under different traffic conditions. Two experiments have been conducted for this purpose. The main objective of the first experiment is to understand drivers' behavior adaptation with varying task demands. The findings showed that drivers had longer eyes-off-road (EOR) time for tasks with higher demands. However, the increase of glance duration had a tendency to flatten out with the increasing task demands, which suggests a risk compensation behavior. The objective of the second experiment is to examine the drivers' behavior adaptation on using IVIS under different traffic conditions and over time. The results showed that EOR was significantly longer over time and shorter when there was traffic on the road. However, drivers were able to improve lateral control over time. This suggests that, with practice, drivers were able to have better control of the vehicle, but also tend to look longer off the road toward the IVIS tasks as they gain confidence, which may impose greater risks on the driver under complex driving situations.