Usability of Car Dashboard Displays for Elder Drivers

Abstract

A common effect of aging is decline in spatial cognition. This is an issue for all elders, but particularly for elder drivers. To address this driving issue, we propose a novel concept of an in-vehicle navigation display system that displays navigation information directly onto the vehicle's windshield, superimposing it on the driver's view of the actual road. An evaluation of our simulated version of this display shows that it results in a significant reduction in navigation errors and distraction-related measures compared to a typical in-car navigation display for elder drivers. These results help us understand how context-sensitive information and a simulated augmented reality representation can he combined to minimize the cognitive load in translating between virtual/ information spaces and the real world. Copyright 2009 ACM.