Can smartphones serve as an instrument for driver behavior of intelligent transportation systems research? A systematic review: Challenges, motivations, and recommendations

Abstract

The increasing number of road accidents is a major issue in many countries. Studying drivers’ behaviour is essential to identify the key factors of these accidents. As improving sustainability can be reached by improving driving behaviour, this study aimed to review and thoroughly analyse current driver behaviour literature that focuses on smartphones and attempted to provide an understanding of various contextual fields in published studies through different open challenges encountered and recommendations to enhance this vital area. All articles about driver behaviour with the scope of using smartphone were searched systematically in four main databases, namely, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science, from 2013 to 2023. The final set of 207 articles matched our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The basic characteristics of this emerging field are identified from the aspects of motivations, open challenges that impede the technology's utility, authors’ recommendations and substantial analysis of the previous studies are discussed based on five aspects (sample size, developed software, techniques used, smartphone sensor based and, available datasets). A proposed research methodology as new direction is provided to solve the gaps identified in the analysis. As a case study of the proposed methodology, the area of eco-driving behaviour is selected to address the current gaps in this area and assist in advancing it. This systematic review is expected to open opportunities for researchers and encourage them to work on the identified gaps.