Konferens: 2nd international conference on driver distraction and inattention, 2011, Gothenburg, Sweden

Several studies have shown the positive effects of Advanced Parking Assistants (APA) on driver comfort and parking performance. However, to what degree the use of a semiautonomous APA system that utilizes automatic steering, but does not control speed by accelerating or braking, influences a driver’s visual attention (i.e. surveying the surrounding environment) and is a possible danger to road safety has not yet been discussed. In this study, N=11 subjects parallel parked in real traffic with or without a semi-autonomous APA system. A total of nine parking maneuvers were done in a residential area. A staged situation, in which an oncoming vehicle passed the test vehicle during its first backward motion, was integrated into one of the nine maneuvers. Prior to parallel parking, drivers were acquainted with the test vehicle and instructed how to use the APA system. Drivers’ glance behavior and judgments as well as observations by an in-vehicle experimenter were measured. No significant detrimental effects of the APA system on surveying other relevant “points-of-interest” while searching for and entering a parking space can be found. Drivers report to have paid as much attention to parking with the APA system as without the APA system. They are able to name as many features of the vehicle that passed by in the staged situation as the drivers without the APA system. No contact with other vehicles, passers-by or obstacles occurs in real traffic. The implications of this study and some methodological aspects are discussed.