Interface design for visual blind spots in cooperative driving

Abstract

Visual blind spots caused by occlusion from lead vehicles represent a significant latent risk factor contributing to traffic accidents. Although Level 2 (L2) autonomous driving systems can partially mitigate this issue, human drivers are still required to actively perceive potential hazards and understand the behaviour of the autonomous vehicle to ensure driving safety. Therefore, designing interactive interfaces that reduce the risks associated with visual blind spots is critical in autonomous driving scenarios. However, current research on this typical scenario remains relatively limited. This study proposes an innovative cooperative driving warning strategy, focussing on driving situations where the driver's line of sight is blocked by a lead vehicle. The strategy integrates environmental cues and behavioural information from the autonomous driving system through an augmented reality (AR) interface, aiming to facilitate efficient cooperation between human drivers and autonomous systems in perceiving visual blind spots. We systematically evaluated the proposed interface prototype using a driving simulator under L2 autonomous driving conditions. The results indicate that the interface significantly enhances drivers' situation awareness and reduces their reaction time to potential hazards. Additionally, the design improves the quality of human-machine cooperation by decreasing conflicts with the autonomous system, increasing trust in the system, and significantly boosting user satisfaction. This study provides new insights into the design of human-machine cooperative perception interfaces for blind spot scenarios and offers both theoretical foundations and practical implications for the future development of cooperative driving systems.