Enhancing driving safety through user experience evaluation of the C-ITS mobile application : a case study of the DARS traffic plus app in a driving simulator environment

Burger, Gregor (author), Guna, Jože (author)

The paper evaluates the DARS Traffic Plus mobile application within a realistic driving simulator environment to assess its impact on driving safety and user experience, particularly focusing on the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). The study is positioned within the broader context of integrating mobile technology in vehicular environments to enhance road safety by informing drivers about potential hazards in real time. A combination of experimental methods was employed, including a standardised user experience questionnaire (meCUE 2.0), measuring quantitative driving parameters and eye-tracking data within a driving simulator, and post-experiment interviews. The results indicate that the mobile application significantly improved drivers’ safety perception, particularly when notifications about hazardous locations were received. Notifications displayed at the top of the mobile screen with auditory cues were deemed most effective. The study concludes that mobile applications like DARS Traffic Plus can play a crucial role in enhancing road safety by effectively communicating hazards to drivers, thereby potentially reducing road accidents and improving overall traffic safety. Screen viewing was kept below the safety threshold, affirming the app’s efficacy in delivering crucial information without distraction. These findings support the integration of C-ITS functionalities into mobile applications as a means to augment older vehicle technologies and extend the safety benefits to a broader user base.

• Language: English
• Keywords: mobile application, road safety, driving simulator, eye-tracking, quantitative driving parameters, user experience, Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), DARS Traffic Plus
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering; NTF - Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 23 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 24, iss. 15, art. 4948
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-159957
• UDC: 004.9:621.395.44:656.1
• ISSN on article: 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s24154948
• COBISS.SI-ID: 203373059
• Publication date in RUL: 01.08.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sensors
• Shortened title: Sensors
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1424-8220
• COBISS.SI-ID: 10176278

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: mobilna aplikacija, varnost v cestnem prometu, simulator vožnje, sledenje pogledom, kvantitativni parametri vožnje, uporabniška izkušnja, kooperativni inteligentni prometni sistemi (C-ITS), DARS Promet Plus