"Back-Seat Driver": Spatial Sound for Vehicular Way-Finding and Situation Awareness

We are exploring IDSS (intelligent driver support systems), especially including way-finding presented via spatial audio. ("Way-finding" refers to giving a driver directions, as via car navigation ["car-nabi"] GPS/GIS systems.) We have developed a networked driving simulator as a virtual-reality based interface (control/display system) featuring integration with the _c ^Sha_i r^e rotary motion platform for azimuth-display, stereographic display for 3D graphics, and spatial audio (sound spatialization) way-finding cues. A design for a guidance system coupled with a GPS system is described, using dynamically selected HRTFs (head-related transfer functions) to directionalize arbitrary audio signals. The system is intended to provide a capability for way-finding as an audio compass or homing beacon. "Back-seat driver" is a slang expression for a passenger (often stereotypically a mother-in-law) who offers driving advice while en route. Besides this colloquialism, we also interpret the phrase literally: we have developed a double-driver (long ladder) fire-truck simulation with a "tiller" (rear steering), which can be driven via an integrated pair of our driving simulator stations. We have incorporated navigation cues into the emergency vehicle simulator, and are are working to deploy such a system in a real vehicle