Differences in Drivers’ Glance Behavior and Lateral Control Ability during Full-Touch Interaction Mode and Conventional Interaction Mode: A Case Study of Road Experiments

In recent years, the full-touch human–machine interaction (HMI) mode has gained popularity in the automotive market. However, little research has been conducted on how this interaction mode affects drivers’ glance behavior and lateral control ability. In this study, we evaluated the visual engagement and driving performance of 30 participants while driving two vehicles equipped with either the full-touch interaction mode (FTIM) or the conventional interaction mode (CIM) provided by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). We found that both air conditioning–related tasks required more visual engagement, longer task completion time, and worse lateral vehicle control under FTIM. Furthermore, the gray correlation analysis demonstrated that FTIM exhibited slightly different disadvantages in the two secondary tasks. In the temperature adjustment task, the correlations of glance behavior and lateral control ability between the two interactive modes were 0.688 and 0.680, respectively. In the airflow adjustment task, the correlations of glance behavior and lateral control ability between the two interactive modes were 0.659 and 0.668, respectively. In addition, this study revealed that driving speed had significant effects on glance behavior and lateral driving performance in both interaction modes. As speed increased, self-adjusting glance behavior was evident in performing the secondary task; however, this behavior could not compensate for the deterioration in lateral driving performance caused by the increased speed. The findings will help improve drivers’ perception of FTIM and provide theoretical guidance for the design development of HMI mode.