List of Our Publications

Nowakowski, C., Friedman, D., Green, P. 2002. An Experimental Evaluation of Using Automotive HUDs to Reduce Driver Distraction While Answering Cell Phones. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting. Baltimore, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2002, p. 1819-1823.

To examine strategies for reducing driver distraction while answering the phone, 24 participants answered calls while driving a simulator. Calls were answered using a center-console-mounted phone or one of several phone designs which utilized a HUD to display the caller ID and steering-wheel-mounted buttons to activate the phone. Driving workload was manipulated by varying the curve radius and by varying the timing of the call, either 1 second before or 5 seconds after the start of a curve. The HUD-based phones resulted in response times that were 39 percent faster than the conventional center-console phone, and they resulted in up to 62 percent fewer line crossings. Additionally, when using the center-console phone, road curvature had a large influence on response times and driving performance; however, the HUD-based phone were less sensitive to increased road curvature or driving workload.