Blind driving by means of the track angle error

This study is the third iteration in a series of studies aimed to develop a system that allows driving blindfolded. We used a sonification approach, where the predicted angular error of the car 2 seconds into the future was translated into spatialized beeping sounds. In a driving simulator experiment, we tested with 20 participants whether a surround-sound feedback system that uses four speakers yields better lane-keeping performance than binary directional feedback produced by two speakers. We also examined whether adding a corner support system to the binary system improves lane-keeping performance. Compared to the two previous iterations, this study presents a more realistic experimental setting, as participants were unfamiliar with the feedback system and received the feedback without headphones. The results show that participants had poor lane-keeping performance. Furthermore, the driving task was perceived as demanding, especially in the case of the additional corner support. Our findings from the blind driving projects suggest that drivers benefit from simple auditory feedback; additional auditory stimuli (e.g., corner support) add workload without improving performance