Modern vehicles are equipped with a variety of technologies designed to make driving safer and more comfortable. However, interaction with infotainment systems, navigation displays, or voice assistants can lead to distractions, potentially impairing driving performance. The Lane Change Task (LCT) is a standardized and regulated method (ISO 26022) for measuring this type of driver distraction, assessing the safe use of in-vehicle systems, and comparing different design alternatives in terms of their freedom from distraction.

To achieve a holistic assessment of distraction, the LCT can be complemented with additional methods, such as eye tracking. This technique precisely measures how the driver’s visual attention is directed and potentially overly engaged during interactions with the system. Furthermore, user studies and expert reviews (e.g., heuristic evaluation) provide valuable actionable insights for optimizing the system.

In the HFC driving simulator, the LCT has now been successfully implemented and used to evaluate an in-vehicle system. The 30 participants were tasked with maintaining their lane and quickly changing lanes upon instruction while interacting with the system. The performance decline during the lane change task revealed the extent of system-induced driver distraction.