Camera-View Augmented Reality: Overlaying Navigation Instructions on a Real-Time View of the Road

Augmented reality navigation aids have been investigated in a number of studies, and results are encouraging, especially for large, head-up displays. However, such displays are not commercially available – in fact they are rare in laboratories as well. In this paper we ask: would drivers be well-served with a navigation aid that overlays AR content on a live feed from a camera that shows the forward road? To answer this question we conducted a simulator-based study and compared the use of such a navigation aid to the use of a head-up AR aid, as well as to the use of 2D map shown on a head-down display. Our results confirm prior results that a head-up AR navigation aid can keep drivers’ visual attention on the road, and that drivers like such a navigation aid. Our results also indicate that a camera-view AR navigation aid might not be well-received by drivers.