Haptic interfaces connect “to the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions to the user” (Wikipedia). Our research investigated if a haptic interface (specifically, through the steering wheel) could improve driving performance. We measured performance and driving enjoyment. We used an off the shelf driving simulator that most of our team was already familiar with, with a three projector system.
As the sole programmer on the team, it fell to me to do most of the prototyping of feedback, and I came up with three types:
- A fast vibration (to warn the driver that they had broken the law, either by speeding or by running a traffic light)
- A slow vibration (to warn the driver of a dangerous situation, such as a sharp turn)
- A push to one side (pushing you away from an obstacle in the road)
However, after some preliminary testing, we found that the slow vibrations were too hard to recognize, so we eliminated them.
Here’s a video I shot of a test run with only voice-feedback enabled. Since this is a test run, only one side screen is being used, and there are alignment issues at the edges that hadn’t yet been corrected. But, you can see how immersive it would be after driving for a few minutes.
The simulator, and the route we built, were immersive and fun to drive. Unfortunately, the study was inconclusive, because we couldn’t obtain a sufficiently large group of subjects.