Heads up Displays and Potential of Distraction

The purpose of this project is to investigate whether Heads-Up Display (HUD) technology changes the driver’s ability to process information on the forward road scene and respond to crash imminent situations.

A Heads–Up Display (HUD) is a form of display technology that uses an image generator, image projector, and image combiner to display information within an optical plane with the forward field of the operator.  While originally developed for military purposes, this technology gained attention for automotive application with the advent of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) during the 1990s.  This project investigated whether HUD technology changes the driver’s ability to process information on the forward road scene and respond to crash imminent situations.  A supporting objective was to identify surrogate measures of distraction similar to eyes-off-road for drivers using the HUD versus a Head-Down Display (HDD) in different driving situations.