Virtual-Acoustics Lead-Vehicle Concept for Sensory Substitution to Enhance Anticipation of Drivin Maneuvers

Abstract

Reduced access to motion-relevant information during highly automated driving can impair occupants’ ability to anticipate upcoming vehicle maneuvers, reducing situational awareness and ride comfort while increasing the likelihood of motion sickness symptoms. To address this issue, a lead-vehicle inspired anticipatory information concept is proposed that continuously represents future vehicle states rather than communicating predefined maneuver categories. Information about a virtual lead vehicle is transferred to either an auditory three-dimensional display or a peripheral visual display using sensory substitution principles. The concept was evaluated in a real-world driving experiment with 46 participants performing a visually demanding non-driving-related task. Participants were assigned to an auditory condition, a visual condition, or a control group without anticipatory support. Both substitution systems improved participants’ ability to anticipate upcoming maneuvers and enhanced subjective route orientation, with the auditory implementation showing the strongest benefits. This advantage may be attributed to the fact that the auditory system enabled a true three-dimensional spatial representation of upcoming events, whereas the visual implementation was limited to a considerably lower-dimensional spatial encoding. Participants were also able to distinguish different maneuver classes from the continuous lead-vehicle representation. However, no significant reduction in motion sickness was observed. The results demonstrate that continuous lead-vehicle representations can successfully communicate future vehicle dynamics and improve anticipation during automated driving. The proposed approach provides a promising alternative to conventional event-based cueing systems and may support the development of future anticipatory in-vehicle interfaces.