Reducing drivers' distractions in phone-based navigation assistants using landmarks

Abstract

Distracted driving can pose serious risks of injuries to car occupants as well as other drivers and pedestrians. Although increasingly in use, GPS units have been found to distract drivers. In this work, we examine the use of landmarks for wayfinding aimed at reducing distracted driving by making the technology 'disappear' from drivers' attention. In this paper, we present SOL, a mobile phone application to provide navigation instructions in a more humanlike way by using landmarks. We conducted an in-situ evaluation comparing SOL with Google Maps for wayfinding. Preliminary results suggest that the use of landmarks helped the drivers occupy their attention in driving rather than on the mobile phone, thus avoiding distractions that could be dangerous while driving. © Springer International Publishing 2013.