The Promise of Virtual Reality Headsets: Can They be Used to Measure Accurately Drivers’ Hazard Anticipation Performance?

The objective of the current study is to evaluate the use of virtual reality (VR) headsets to measure driving performance. This is desirable because they are several orders of magnitude less expensive than simulators and, if validated, could greatly extend the powers of simulation. Out of several possible measures of performance that could be considered for evaluating VR headsets, the current study specifically examines drivers’ latent hazard anticipation behavior both because it has been linked to crashes and because it has been shown to be significantly poorer in young drivers compared with their experienced counterparts in traditional driving simulators and in open road studies. In a between-subject design, 48 participants were equally and randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions—two young driver cohorts (18–21 years) and two middle-aged driver cohorts (30–55 years) navigating either a fixed-based driving simulator or a VR headset-based simulator. All participants navigated six unique scenarios while their eyes were continually tracked. The proportion of latent hazards anticipated by participants which constituted the primary dependent measure, was found to be greater for middle-aged drivers than young drivers across both platforms. The difference in the magnitude of performance between the young and middle-aged drivers was similar across the two platforms. The study provides some justification for the use of VR headsets as a way of understanding drivers’ hazard anticipation behavior.