Dynamic vibrotactile warning signals for frontal collision avoidance: towards the torso versus towards the head

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to assess the effectiveness of dynamic vibrotactile warning signals with different spatial patterns and to compare dynamic towards-torso and towards-head vibrotactile warnings in a simulated driving task. The results revealed that embedding additional stimuli between the participant's hands and waist in the towards-torso cues (Experiment 1) and increasing the spatial distance between adjacent stimuli in the towards-head cues (Experiment 2) did not result in any further benefits in braking response times (BRTs). The triple towards-head cues resulting from the sequential operation of three pairs of stimuli on the torso gave rise to a significant advantage over the static cues; however, it did not outperform the dynamic towards-torso cues with just two pairs of stimuli. Taken together, these results demonstrated the promise of dynamic vibrotactile warnings (especially, the towards-torso warnings) in terms of the future design of more effective rear-end collision warnings.

Abstract

Practitioner Summary: Three experiments assessed the effectiveness of dynamic towards-torso and towards-head vibrotactile warning signals in a simulated driving task. The results demonstrated the promise of dynamic vibrotactile warnings (especially, the towards-torso vibrotactile warnings) in terms of the future design of more effective frontal collision warnings.

Keywords::

• haptic
• tactile
• driving
• brake reaction time
• interface design
• frontal collision warning

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]

^3. Email: [email protected]

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the EPSRC [under grant number EP/J008001/1].