On-the-Road Comparison of In-Vehicle Navigation Assistance Systems: The FAST-TRACTroika Study

摘要

The purpose of the User Perceptions and Behaviors element of FAST-TRAC is tounderstand how people use and what they think about the ATIS component of FAST-TRAC. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare not only how people use and what they think about these two specific systems and a third system using Written Instructions, but also to compare performance and what people think about three distinct types of in-vehicle navigation-assistance systems when the systems are used concurrently under identical conditions on the road. Identical conditions were achieved by having triplets, or troikas, of people driving similar vehicles at the same time to the same destinations, while tracking all vehicles through satellite positioning. One person in the troika used Ali-Scout, one used TetraStar, and one used Written Instructions. Driver familarity with area and traffic conditions were also investigated. Overall, the authors found that Ali-Scout users got lost more frequently, had more difficulty finding routes and destinations, made more wrong turns, and drive longer routes than did users of the other two systems. When trips in which the driver got lost were removed and drivers had experience with the systems, they found that users of both Ali-Scout and TetraStar had significantly shorter trip durations (5 percent overall) than users of Written Instructions. Analysis of trip duration by traffic conditions and of time spent at zero velocity showed no benefit of Ali-Scout's dynamic route guidance over the static guidance of TetraStar. Other driving behavior and questionnaire data are also reported.