Exploring distance encodings with a tactile display to convey turn by turn information in automobiles

Visual and auditory displays successfully complement each other presenting information in car navigation systems. However, they distract the visual and auditory attention of the driver, which is needed in many primary driving tasks, such as maneuvering the car or observing the traffic. Tactile interfaces can form an alternative way to display spatial information. The way of how exactly information should be presented in a vibro-tactile way is explored rarely. In this paper we investigate three different designs of vibro-tactile stimulation to convey distance information to the driver using a tactile waist belt. We explore the tactile parameters intensity, rhythm, duration, and body location for encoding the distance information. We conduct a comparative experiment on a real navigation scenario in an urban environment to evaluate our designs. In our study we discovered that rhythm and duration are suitable parameters to generate tactile stimulation for encoding distance information. In this way the driver perceives countable vibro-tactile pulses, which indicate the distance in turn by turn instructions. The approach is found be simple way of encoding complex navigational information