Study the Headway Distance and Physiological Responses of Driver Distraction – An experiment on Networked Multi-Drivers Simulator

This study aimed to find the interactive behaviors between drivers and the effect of distractions on driving. In this project, 14 subjects conducted a two trials car-following driving tasks at with/without distraction conditions. The auditory distraction was a recorded sound, and subjects were asked to repeat certain numbers at different time of driving. This experiment was conducted on a new simulation framework – a Networked Multi-Drivers Simulator- by replacing the lead car driver by pre-trained driver instead of driver model to enhance the fidelity feeling of subject. The Headway distance (HD) and physiological parameters including heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were measured. ANOVA and back wise regression were conducted to infer the level of inattentiveness for several factors such as driver’s gender, stress and distraction levels and their cause-effect relationships. The experimental validation showed that the contact physiological features were not significant factors for inferring the distraction state of a driver.