Supplemental Electronic In-Cab Truck Displays: An Inventory of Devices and Approaches to Their Evaluation

摘要

Today's medium-heavy truck driver, in many situations, operates under a heavy visual and attention workload. Over the past few years there has been significant growth in the availability and use of supplemental electronic display devices. Most are clearly of benefit to drivers or fleet operators by virtue of their enhancement of operating efficiency, lower operating cost, driver control and maintenance scheduling, to list but a few. The inherent complexity of the driver-user/device interface, however, may be such that use of such devices during driving will decrease safety by increasing crash involvement, since they compete with the primary task of continuous roadway monitoring. A study was undertaken to inventory current and near-term electronic supplemental in-cab displays, estimate their use in the 1990s by truck type, and identify alternative strategies for their evaluation relative to their compatibility with safe truck operation. Short and long range objectives and safety evaluation strategies are outlined and a plan for research to describe and quantify current truck driver workload, fundamental to any subsequent safety evaluation, is presented.