Visual fatigue relief zone in an extra-long tunnel using virtual reality with wearable EEG-based devices

Abstract

Long-time driving and monotonous visual environment increase the safety risk of driving in an extra-long tunnel. Driving fatigue can be effectively relieved by setting the visual fatigue relief zone in the tunnel. However, the setting form of visual fatigue relief zone, such as its length and location, is difficult to be designed and quantified. By integrating virtual reality (VR) apparatus with wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) -based devices, a hybrid method was proposed in this study to assist analyzers to formulate the layout of visual fatigue relief zone in the extra-long tunnel. The virtual environment of this study was based on an 11.5 km extra-long tunnel located in Yunnan Province in China. The results indicated that the use of natural landscape decoration inside the tunnel could improve driving fatigue with the growth rate of attention of the driver increased by more than 20%. The accumulation of driving fatigue had a negative effect on the fatigue relief. The results demonstrated that the optimal location of the fatigue relief zone was at the place where driving fatigue had just occurred rather than at the place where a certain amount of driving fatigue had accumulated.

Keywords

virtual reality / visual environment / driving fatigue / extra-long tunnel / EEG-based device

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