Look-ahead fixations in curve driving

Abstract

Two functionally distinct types of fixation, guiding fixations and look-ahead fixations, have been identified in naturalistic tasks based on their temporal relationship to the task execution. In car driving, steering through a curve is guided by fixations toward a region located 1–2 s in the future, but drivers also make fixations further along the road. We recorded drivers' eye movements while they drove an instrumented vehicle on curved rural roads and developed a method to quantify lead time and distance of look-ahead fixations. We also investigated the effect of cognitive load on look-ahead fixations. The look-ahead fixations appear to have a pattern which is connected to the sequential structure of a curve. This suggests that they have a role both in advance planning of the driving line and in the anticipation of oncoming vehicles. Cognitive load led to a shorter look-ahead lead time and distance.

Practitioner Summary: We developed a method to quantify lead time and distance of look-ahead fixations in curve driving from on-road eye movement data. The results are relevant for driver modelling and development of anticipation training programmes for novice drivers.

Keywords:

• car driving
• anticipation
• look-ahead fixation
• occlusion point
• cognitive load