Visual and tactile information to improve drivers' performance

Abstract

Usually we steer a car using mainly visual information to perceive road's shape and bends. We developed a driving simulator with visual and/or tactile information guides to virtually present drivers' lateral position and to enhance their steering performance. The purpose of this study was to test effects of the cross-modal guide information on the driving performance. We found that the tactile guide improved driving accuracy more than the visual guide without any tradeoff of driving loads. Thus, the tactile information of virtual position of a car is useful for assisting and improving driver's performance with fewer loads.