A driving simulator experiment towards contributions to studies on driver behaviour under foggy conditions

• Ano de defesa: 2022
• Autor(a) principal: Calsavara, Felipe
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: driving simulator; eye-tracking; fog; neblina; perfil de velocidade; rastreamento ocular; simulador de direção; sistema de aviso; speed profile; warning-system
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18143/tde-22052023-105037/

Visibility is essential for the driving task, and its reduction influences the behavior of drivers, which must be understood towards the design of adequate accident mitigation strategies. Fog is an example of a weather condition that directly impacts a driver\'s vision and leads to more severe accidents involving multiple vehicles in comparison with normal visibility conditions. Intelligent Transport Systems based on connected vehicles communication have been increasingly built in vehicles towards overcoming the aforementioned issue and potentially helping drivers take actions from externally acquired information, warning them of dangerous situations to be avoided. The present study was divided into two different experiments, of which the first investigated the effects of presence or absence of fog on drivers\' visual performance and the second evaluated a driver\'s speed profile in different scenarios (clear weather, fog weather, and fog with an in-vehicle fog warning system). In both, a driving simulator recreated the real scenarios of a main Brazilian road segment, showing the geometric and weather conditions of a road known for a frequent incidence of fog. The analysis of the results of drivers\' visual performance and speed profile in a foggy scenario revealed (1) the eye tracked area was concentrated in a smaller region, (2) the number of fixations increased, (3) the pupil dilation was shorter, and (4) the fixation duration did not change. (5) The evaluation of the scenario that used connected vehicles technology showed such technology can substantially improve road safety, since drivers can better adjust speed to enter a fog zone.