Improvement of a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for Driver Assistance Using an Event-Driven Prompting Display

Visual display systems showing lateral roadway position of a vehicle have been used in advanced vehicle control and safety systems for driver assistance in hazardous conditions, e.g., in snowplowing operations. A simple simulation of lateral control stability of the vehicle indicates the adverse effect of dead-time resulting from the driver glancing back and forth between windshield and display. An event-driven prompting display is presented to reduce the effect of the dead-time and improve the safety of the driver assistance system. Test results in actual driving provide a comparison of the performance of the new display versus the original display system, and clearly indicate the improvement in lateral stability in driving a vehicle.