Audi's Attitudes, a corporate social responsibility program, wanted to learn more about the phenomenon of driving without awareness. Wearable eye trackers from Tobii Pro enabled their researchers to gain insight into driving behavior and occurrences that are often forgotten by drivers. The data revealed significant changes in gaze patterns during phases of subconscious driving and helped identify situations and external factors causing the issue.
Driving without awareness (DWA) is the sense of operating a vehicle with little or no conscious attention to the surrounding traffic, also known as subconscious driving. At the time of this study, there was very little research on this topic. The past exploration focused on long highway journeys and used simulators that deviate from the actual driving experience with methods that involved asking drivers directly about their experiences.
The objective of the study was to learn more about the prevalence of DWA, pinpoint characteristics of drivers who often drive in this manner, and identify situations that could promote its occurrence. The study also aimed to examine driver perceptions about the issue and analyze its effects on road safety.
With eye tracking, we were able to study actual driving behavior in real-time and in detail, and identify subconscious driving situations
The study was carried out in two phases. In the first, a traditional phone survey was conducted with a representative sample of 2000 Spanish drivers to address a broad range of DWA aspects in order to quantify the phenomenon. In the second phase, eye tracking observations were combined with in-depth interviews to test several defined hypotheses and examine subconscious driving episodes in greater detail.
A few of the tested hypotheses:
The Attitudes study found that DWA is widespread as a result of experience and driving practice. Conversely, in the survey, only 25% answered that they had never experienced subconscious driving and 5% reported experiencing such situations on a regular basis. Furthermore, the study showed that motorists who experience DWA are typically seasoned drivers who use the car daily to get to work or school, usually traveling the same route.
In addition, the research showed evidence of DWA among the drivers who said they drove subconsciously every day and among drivers who said they mostly were aware of everything as they drove. It is therefore reasonable to assume that not all drivers realize this issue is happening.
The study concludes that DWA reduces attention to the act of driving, but not necessarily to general security and road safety. Should something occur that is perceived as dangerous, subconscious driving disappears and most drivers can react appropriately. Researchers were unable to test effects on reaction time, but estimated that an increase would most likely be very small. Driving without awareness can be considered a moderate risk, but may have a potentiating effect on accidents when combined with other factors such as excessive speeds.