Results from a Chinese driving simulator study.
Beijing, China
Impact of in-vehicle navigation information on-lane change behavior in urban expressway diverge segments
Summary Information
Lane-changing behaviors frequently occur upstream of urban expressway off-ramps, potentially causing bottlenecks or accidents. This paper studies how in-vehicle navigation information impacts lane-changing behavior at urban expressway diverge segments compared to traditional road signs by conducting a series of driving simulator experiments.
Methodology
The researchers designed scenarios considering both static roadside signs and in-vehicle navigation information. It is expected that lane change behavior is influenced by how early information is provided and traffic density conditions. Different scenarios considering different information provision position under low, medium and high traffic density for both in-vehicle navigation information and road side signs are used in the simulator. The in-vehicle system only notified subjects that their exit was coming up, the in-vehicle system did not assist subjects in making lane changes.
Each driver experienced the following scenarios, based on an actual segment in Beijing, China: (1) static road sign; (2) in-vehicle navigation with the information first provided at 0.7 km upstream of the exit gore; (3) in-vehicle navigation with the information first provided at 1.5 km upstream of the exit gore; and (4) in-vehicle navigation with the information first provided at 2.0 km upstream of the exit gore.
Findings
Impacts of in-vehicle navigation information on drivers are closely related with traffic density status. Drivers are more likely to comply with in-vehicle navigation information under medium to high density conditions. On average, drivers change to the target lane 400 m earlier under in-vehicle navigation information scenario than the static roadside sign scenario. Drivers tend to ignore the in-vehicle navigation information under low density condition. These results are expected because lane changes are easier to make in low traffic density situations.
