Assessing Driving Simulator Validity: A Comparison of Multi-Modal Smartphone Interactions across Simulated and Field Environments
The use of a driving simulator as a tool to evaluate secondary task performance elicits the question of simulator validity. After upgrading an existing driving simulator from a medium-fidelity to a high-fidelity configuration with a new software environment, a study was run to benchmark this simulator against previously published highway-driving data. A primary goal was to assess relative and absolute validity in a simulated highway environment. Data from 72 participants who performed manual and voice-based contact dialing tasks with a center-stack-mounted smartphone in either the driving simulator or driving on the highway in one of two vehicles is considered. This analysis compared secondary task demand between the simulator and on-road vehicles by primarily considering driver off-road glance behavior. Mean total eyes-off-road time, mean single-glance duration, and the number of long off-road glances showed similar patterns relative to the manual versus voice-based tasks in the simulator and the two on-road vehicles. A driving performance metric, percentage change of standard deviation of velocity, showed differing results between the simulator and on-road vehicles. It is concluded that these data make a strong argument for relative validity, and in some cases absolute validity, for this simulator for studying glance behavior associated with in-vehicle devices under a highway-driving scenario.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
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Authors:
- McWilliams, Thomas
- Ward, Nathan
- Mehler, Bruce
- Reimer, Bryan
- Publication Date: 2018-12
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References;
- Pagination: pp 164-171
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Serial:
- Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
- Volume: 2672
- Issue Number: 37
- Publisher: Sage Publications, Incorporated
- ISSN: 0361-1981
- EISSN: 2169-4052
- Serial URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/trr
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Driver performance; Driving simulators; Evaluation and assessment; Eye movements; Field studies; Multitasking; Smartphones; Validity
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01663070
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 18-06135
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Mar 20 2018 5:08PM