Conference Proceeding

Driving While Reading Using Google Glass Versus Using a Smartphone: Which is More Distracting to Driving Performance?

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Abstract

Using a phone while driving leads to distraction and impaired driving performance. When reading text on a phone, the act of looking away from the road could cause driving impairment. Wearable displays like Google Glass might reduce the visual impairment caused by looking away, even if they do not overcome other factors contributing to impaired driving. However, such devices could also increase impairment by giving drivers the mistaken impression that they can pay attention to both the display and the road simultaneously or impair visual processing by superimposing visual information in the driving scenes. We compared driving performance in a simulated naturalistic driving task while drivers read text on Google Glass or on a smartphone. As expected, reading on Google Glass and the smartphone both impaired driving performance by increasing lane variations, but drivers using Google Glass showed less lane variation compared to smartphone users. To the extent that these metrics reflect better driving performance, Google Glass might somewhat reduce the costs of reading text while driving. Keywords: Driver distraction; Tactical vehicle control; Google Glass; Cellphone

How to Cite:

He, J. & Ellis, J. & Choi, W. & Wang, P., (2015) “Driving While Reading Using Google Glass Versus Using a Smartphone: Which is More Distracting to Driving Performance?”, Driving Assessment Conference 8(2015), 275-281. doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/drivingassessment.1583

Rights: Copyright © 2015 the author(s)