Using tactile displays to maintain situational awareness during driving

Abstract

We present a system to reduce the decay of situational awareness when the driver of a vehicle is distracted by a secondary task like texting. According to Wickens' Multiple Resource Theory, the driver can attend to the under-used tactual modality in parallel with the preoccupied visual modality. Charron and Koechlin found that under dual-tasking conditions, the executive function of each task is located in a different part of frontal cortex. We expand on that theory based on brain anatomy, and propose that these two areas are both active but with different qualities of access to cognitive resources. Based on these theories, we employ tactile arrays to represent the local traffic situation to the driving task, when the driver is occupied with a distracting secondary task. We describe our cognitive model and the design of the tactile display, and show results of predictions of time to return to vigilant driving from a secondary task with and without the tactual modality inputs.