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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 19, 2026

Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects

Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects

Published on: September 18, 2012

Where we look when we drive with or without active steering wheel control.

Franck Mars¹, Jordan Navarro

¹IRCCyN (Institut de Recherche en Communication et en Cybernétique de Nantes), LUNAM Université and CNRS, Nantes, France. franck.mars@irccyn.ec-nantes.fr

|August 29, 2012

Summary

Drivers focus near the tangent point, not directly on it, supporting safe trajectory planning. Active steering influences gaze, suggesting bidirectional eye-hand coordination in driving.

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Area of Science:

Human-computer interaction
Automotive engineering
Cognitive psychology

Background:

Visuomotor coordination is crucial for driving, with active road sampling informing steering actions.
The precise visual cues and gaze strategies drivers employ, particularly regarding the tangent point hypothesis, remain debated.
The tangent point hypothesis suggests drivers fixate on a specific point on the inside edge line, but this is under scrutiny.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate drivers' gaze distribution relative to the tangent point.
To explore the reciprocal influence of manual steering control on gaze control during driving.
To compare gaze behavior during active manual steering versus passive automatic steering.

Main Methods:

Analysis of gaze orientation distribution concerning the tangent point.
Comparison of driver gaze behavior during active steering versus when using an automatic controller.
Quantification of look-ahead fixations and time spent near the tangent point under different steering conditions.

Main Results:

Drivers sampled the roadway in the vicinity of the tangent point, not the point itself, supporting trajectory boundary fixation.
When steering was passive (automatic), drivers exhibited increased look-ahead fixations towards the bend exit.
Passive steering led to a reduction in time spent looking at the tangent point area.

Conclusions:

Driver gaze aligns with the boundary of a safe trajectory envelope near the inside edge line.
The observed changes in gaze behavior during passive steering suggest a shift in anticipatory gaze strategies (cognitive vs. sensorimotor).
Findings indicate a bidirectional coordination between eye and arm-motor systems, challenging the notion that eyes solely lead the hands in driving.