May AR-Navigation pose a Safety Issue? Exploring the Usage Behaviour of an Augmented Reality Human-Machine Interface for Virtual Stops

In demand responsive transportation (DRT), the use of flexible pick-up locations can be advantageous to mobility service providers and customers alike. However, in order to achieve high user acceptance of DRT services, providing information along the user journey and fostering high rates of user experience (UX) is essential. After booking a trip on the smartphone, customers need to get to the initiated flexible pick-up location in time to board the booked shuttle. Because to the flexibility, the pick-up locations are virtual stops (vStop) and have no real-world cues. Thus, especially in those situations of getting to the vStop, customers need clear and efficient information on their smartphones regarding the vStop location. The novel vStop HMI fills the information gap in this user journey scenario and supports users finding the pick-up location effectively. By using means of Augmented Reality (AR), it presents guiding information about the vStop and the rout towards it in reference to the real traffic environment. Yet, while navigating, the vStop HMI might also claim a lot of user's attention, which could bar him/her from observing the surrounding sufficiently and may lead to safety critical situations. So, restricting AR information access while walking might mitigate safety critical side effects of AR navigation with smartphones. Goal of this explorative user study was to gain insights about the effect of restricting AR navigation information while walking.