In-Vehicle Infotainment System and Driver Distraction

This study examines the safety concerns related to the use of in-Vehicle Infotainment Systems and the implications for future road safety policy. A total of 44 students studying the driving instructor programme in Norway were asked to use four IVIS functions: to select a radio channel, change the car interior temperature, choose music on a streaming platform, and enter an address on the navigation system. They drove a car with double-pedal set on a specific route with a safety instructor on board. The rides were registered with eye-tracking glasses. Results show that vehicle touchscreen-based IVIS requires considerable attention and distracts drivers from the road and traffic situation. The NASA Raw Task Load Index and the evaluation of driver attention show that the navigation system led to longer and more fixations and increased the effort required to coordinate between brain, eyes and hands. The average total required time to solve the navigation task was 44 seconds, and of the 33 seconds of cumulative fixation time, drivers spent an average attention of 17 seconds on the road and traffic and 16 seconds on the touchscreen. A large share of drivers also spent a cumulative fixation time on the touchscreen over the NHTSA recommended threshold of 12 seconds. The longer the fixations are on the touchscreen, the more the traffic context may have changed. This work further discusses the risk incurred and the drivers' ability to react to risky situations, as well as the cognitive load associated with switching sequences between road and touchscreen.

Keywords: In-vehicle infotainment system, Driver distraction, Risk perception, Driver behaviour, Cognitive maps, Touchscreen.