A similar demo procedure was used at both the HFES and NHTSA sites. Interested participants
signed up for demonstration drives, which were approximately 30 minutes in duration. On each
drive, two participants accompanied a project team member who drove the vehicle. Participants
were given a descriptive overview of the system and familiarized with the concepts and displays. The
drive covered a variety of local roads and exercised all of the systems. The excessive maneuver
criterion was intentionally reduced for purposes of the demo so that it would not be dangerous to
trigger the driver feedback under traffic conditions. The system status display was active on a laptop
computer during the drive, so that the participants could view and discuss it during the trip. Upon
returning from the drive, the participants were queried about what features they liked or disliked
about the system, what if anything they would change, whether they felt it would be effective, and
whether they had any other comments or suggestions. A total of 35 HFES conference attendees
took part over a three-day period. The NHTSA demo was a single day and approximately 12 people
took the demo drive. Additional NHTSA staff attended a briefing on the system given prior to the
scheduled drives.
Feedback from the participants in the demo drives was generally positive. They tended to feel the
system was well designed and had good potential for effectiveness. Most of the comments dealt with
the interface elements as opposed to system functionality. Minor modifications to the display were
made in response to this feedback.