Abstract
The use of a driving simulator as a tool to evaluate secondary task performance elicits the question of simulator validity. After upgrading an existing driving simulator from a medium-fidelity to a high-fidelity configuration with a new software environment, a study was run to benchmark this simulator against previously published highway-driving data. A primary goal was to assess relative and absolute validity in a simulated highway environment. Data from 72 participants who performed manual and voice-based contact dialing tasks with a center-stack-mounted smartphone in either the driving simulator or driving on the highway in one of two vehicles is considered. This analysis compared secondary task demand between the simulator and on-road vehicles by primarily considering driver off-road glance behavior. Mean total eyes-off-road time, mean single-glance duration, and the number of long off-road glances showed similar patterns relative to the manual versus voice-based tasks in the simulator and the two on-road vehicles. A driving performance metric, percentage change of standard deviation of velocity, showed differing results between the simulator and on-road vehicles. It is concluded that these data make a strong argument for relative validity, and in some cases absolute validity, for this simulator for studying glance behavior associated with in-vehicle devices under a highway-driving scenario.
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