Skip to main content
Log in

Study of in-vehicle route guidance systems for improvement of right-side drivers in the Japanese traffic system

  • Published:
International Journal of Automotive Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A country can adopt one of two standards for traffic flow — cars may travel on the left or right side of the road. When drivers who are accustomed to driving on the right side of the road drive on the left side, and vice versa, the mental workload is likely increased due to the driver’s unfamiliarity with a new language, the position of the driver’s seat, different driving directions, and other factors that differ from those of their home country. One method of doing this is to make sure that the in-vehicle route guidance information (RGI) is not overly complicated — thereby assisting drivers in improving their safety. Consequently, the aim of this study was to facilitate mobility and improve safety for natural right-side drivers driving temporarily in left-side traffic. In this study, driver behavior and workload — given various types of RGI — were evaluated in a driving simulator with a variety of prescribable test conditions. This research was composed of two experiments. In the first, various types of in-vehicle route guidance systems were tested and evaluated in terms of their characteristics and associated driver behaviors (while driving). In the second experiment, systemic factors and effectiveness were evaluated by two combined systems, arrow and map-type information, based on the results of the first experiment. In light of both experiments, the various types of route guidance systems were discussed in terms of their results. A navigation system was proposed to alleviate some of the secondary tasks such as route selection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Asoh, T. (2005). Comparative study of effectiveness of maps and turn-by-turn navigation systems. JARI Research J. 22,2, 82–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, P., Meckle, W. and Nasvadi, G. (2009). The safety of vehicle imported from right-hand drive vehicle configuration countries when operated in a left-hand drive vehicle environment. Accident Analysis & Prevention 41,1, 108–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, A., Smith, N., McFadenn, M., Walker, M. and Hollingworth, S. (2004). In australia are people born in other countries at higher risk of road trauma than locally born people?. Accident Analysis and Prevention 36,3, 375–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, S. G., Iavecchia, H. P., Byers, J. C., Bitter, A. C., Zaklad, A. L. and Christ, R. E. (1992). Comparison of four subjective workload rating scales. Human Factors 34,4, 429–439.

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) (2007). Statistics of Tourism in Japan.

  • Jeon, Y., Okada, R., Daimon, T. and Kawashima, H. (2006). Preliminary study on driving behavior of non-japanese drivers using various types of route guidance information. Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan 28,3, 399–405.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, A., Ross, T. and Osman, Z. (2005). The design of next generation in-vehicle navigation systems for the older drivers. Interacting with Computers 17,6, 634–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagao, T., Kawamura, H., Yamamoto, M. and Ouchi, H. (2005). Acquisition of sightseeing movement information based on gps log mining. Society for Tourism Informatics 1,1, 38–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • SAE Recommended Practice (2005). Navigation and route guidance function accessibility while driving. SAE Paper No. J2364.

  • Sawada, A., Mo, M., Shimbo, T. and Oyabu, T. (2006). Trend of aged tourist and application of tourism resources in Nanao city. Society for Tourism Informatics, 2,1, 41–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Srinivasan, R. and Jovanis, P. (1997). Effects of selected invehicle route guidance systems on driver reaction times. Human Factors 39,2, 200–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takubo, N. and Nishida, Y. (2000). Effects of in-vehicle information systems on traffic accidents. The Japanese J. Ergonomics, 36, 148–151. (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Uang, S. and Hwan, S. (2003). Effects on driving behavior of congestion information and of scale of in-vehicle navigation systems. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 11,6, 423–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Underwood, G., Chapman, P., Brocklehust, N., Underwood, J. and Crundall, D. (2003). Visual attention while driving sequences of eye fixations made by experienced and novice drivers. Ergonomics 46,6, 629–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., Kiss, M., Gugg, P., Steffen, A., Fink, M., Poppel, E. and Kamiya, H. (2006). Effects of display position of a visual in-vehicle task on simulated driving. Applied Ergonomics 37,2, 187–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. W. Jeon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jeon, Y.W., Daimon, T. Study of in-vehicle route guidance systems for improvement of right-side drivers in the Japanese traffic system. Int.J Automot. Technol. 11, 417–427 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-010-0051-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-010-0051-z

Key words

Navigation