Enhancing human responses through augmented reality Head-Up Display in vehicular environment

Contemporary needs for constant provision of information and communication has crowded the modern vehicle´s interior with a variety of instrumentation displays. This abundance of automotive infotainment devices can reduce significantly driver´s decision making process and response times, leading to higher probability of collision, especially under adverse weather conditions. Typical dashboard instrumentation has proven inefficient to tackle such issues and Head-Up Display (HUD) interfaces deemed as an increasingly viable alternative by recent developments in automotive research and manufacturing. This paper presents our current work towards the development of a full-windshield HUD interface that could enhance human responses and provide time-dependant and only critical information for collisions avoidance. For the evaluation of the system we have developed a VR driving simulator that simulates traffic flow and typical accident scenarios in motorway environment. Finally the paper presents the evaluation results and future work that would improve the interaction between HUD interface and driver.