Geopositioned 3D areas of interest for gaze analysis

Abstract

To understand driver's gaze behavior, the gaze is usually matched to surrounding objects or static areas of interest (AOI) at fixed positions around the car. Full surround object tracking allows for an understanding of the traffic situation. However, because it requires an extensive sensor set and a lot of processing power, it's not yet broadly available in production cars. The use of static AOIs only requires the addition of eye tracking sensors. They are at fixed positions around the car and can't adapt to the environment, therefore their usefulness is limited. We propose geopositioned 3D AOIs. With adaptability and the use of a small sensor set, they combine the strengths of both methods. To test 3D AOIs' capabilities for gaze analysis, a driving simulator study with 74 participants was conducted. We show that 3D AOIs are suitable for driver's gaze analysis and a promising tool for driver intention prediction.