Content Presentation on 3D Augmented Reality Windshield Displays in the Context of Automated Driving

Increasing vehicle automation presents challenges as drivers of automated vehicles become more disengaged from the primary driving task, as there will still be activities that require interfaces for vehicle-passenger interactions. Windshield displays provide large-content areas supporting drivers in non-driving related tasks. This work addresses user preferences as well as task and safety aspects for 3D augmented reality (AR) windshield displays in automated driving. Participants of a user study (N = 24) were presented with two modes of content presentation (multiple content-specific windows vs. one main window), and could freely choose their preferred positions, content types, as well as size, and transparency levels for these content windows using a simulated "ideal" windshield display in a virtual reality driving simulator. We found that using one main content window resulted in better task performance and lower take-over times, however, subjective user experience was higher for the multi-window user interface. These insights help designers of in-vehicle applications to provide a rich user experience in automated vehicles.