Analyzing the influence of different road types and layouts on physiological measures for the assessment of car drivers' mental workload

Abstract

Car driving has become safer over the past years. Still human errors and failures are a major factor in road traffic accidents. The sources of strain have shifted from physical strain towards mental strain. Therefore driver condition detection and mental workload while driving have gained interest as topic of research. This thesis aims to assess car drivers' mental workload on different road environments in a field study. The physiological measures of heart rate and pupil diameter will be used to investigate mental workload while driving. Study participants had to drive a predetermined route which composed highways, rural roads and city roads. In order to place these different road environments in a meaningful relationship they were annotated using a common systematic approach. A broad classification divided between highways, rural roads and city roads, and a more detailed classification denoted the physical layout of the road. Data processing and data analysis were performed using statistical software. The differences in the physiological measures on the different road environments were analyzed. On highways, rural roads and city roads, differences in the physiological measures of heart rate and pupil diameter were found. Furthermore the more detailed classification proved to bind more variance in the measures of heart rate and pupil diameter than the broader division between highways, rural roads and city roads. In sum, these results provide evidence that environmental factors have an influence on drivers' mental.