THE EFFECT OF AN INFRARED VISION SUPPORT SYSTEM ON DRIVER BEHAVIOUR. IN: ENGINEERING PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS. AEROSPACE AND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

The European Commission funded DARWIN project was designed to develop a vision support system for use in the automotive environment. The paper looks at the human factors input to the project that has included a series of driving simulator tests, using a mock-up of the system's display. A major research question addressed was whether the system would have a behavioral effect on the headway volunteers kept to the vehicle in front. The results of simulator trials appear to support the above hypothesis; furthermore, fewer collisions and 'near misses' were recorded when the system was in use, and closer analysis revealed neither negative effects on lane-keeping, nor increases in lateral deviation when the virtual image was available.