Design of a Driver-Vehicle Interface for Local Surrounding World Information in Intersections

In Europe 40 000 people get killed and 1.7 million get injured in traffic accidents every year. Of all accidents reported, urban intersection accidents are over represented. Autoliv, Volvo Car Corporation and Chalmers University of Technology are working together to reduce the amount of intersection accidents and near-to-accident conflicts between vehicles and other vehicles, pedestrians or bicyclists. In addition to developing technical components, a challenge is how to design an effective driver-vehicle interface, which meets human capabilities and limitations. Through a user centred approach the first concepts of a driver-vehicle interface for an intersection support and warning system was developed and evaluated. The thesis discusses the system output to support drivers negotiating an intersection safely. It also addresses how this output should be presented in regard to existing guidelines and users’ opinions. The thesis shows that warnings about other road users are perceived as being the most important and helpful output. Both results from crash data analysis and design evaluation with future users indicate that drivers would also accept and benefit from a support system. This system should be giving information about an upcoming intersection and also information to notify the driver about other road users. A head-up display was by far the most appreciated location for such information. Further development of the interface design and evaluation under real-world conditions need however to be done