The influence of light-induced dynamics on eye movements: A real-world driving study

Abstract

During night driving, car headlamps are the most important assistance for the driver. New technology using adaptive driving beams aims to provide optimal lighting in all driving situations. These lighting systems avoid glaring oncoming and preceding cars by adjusting the light beam, while at the same time keeping the rest of the scene highly illuminated. Although a better illumination is usually associated with higher traffic safety, this technology also introduces novel light-induced dynamics caused by the adjustment of the light beam. So far, the effects of these light-induced dynamics on attention, perception, and driving behavior are not understood. Using mobile eye tracking during real world night driving, we investigated the influence of light-induced dynamics on eye movements. The results showed that light-induced dynamics attracted fixations, even when these dynamics did not provide driving-relevant information. Pronounced light-induced dynamics tended to attract fixations even more than subtle dynamics. In a follow-up study, we investigate how light-induced dynamics influence visual attention and driving behavior since the first results suggested that light-induced dynamics might distract drivers and thus potentially jeopardize object and hazard recognition.