Fitts Goes Autobahn: Assessing the Visual Demand of Finger-Touch Pointing Tasks in an On-Road Study

The visual demand of finger-touch based interactions with touch screens has been increasingly modelled using Fitts’ Law. With respect to driving, these models facilitate the prediction of mean glance duration and total glance time with an index of difficulty based on target size and location. Strong relationships between measures have been found in the controlled conditions of driving simulators. The present study aimed to validate such models in naturalistic conditions. Nineteen experienced drivers carried out a range of touchscreen button-press tasks in an instrumented car on a UK motorway. In contrast with previous simulator-based work, our on-road data produced much weaker relationships between the index of difficulty and glance times. The model improved by focusing on tasks that required one glance only. Limitations of Fitts’ Law in the more complex and dynamic real-world driving environment are discussed, as are the potential drawbacks of driving simulators for conducting visual demand research.