Augmented reality (AR) display and spatial learning in autonomous vehicle: A cartographic and cognitive perspective

Like in-vehicle navigation systems (aka.GPS), autonomous vehicles have raised researchers' concern as the attention of travelers to the environment in such vehicles would further decline (McKerral et al., 2023), which substantially impacts travelers' spatial awareness of the surroundings.Studies investigating the impact of following GPS on spatial learning show that drivers acquire very limited spatial knowledge (see Ishikawa, 2019;Parush et al., 2007).The acquisition of spatial knowledge can worsen in autonomous vehicles as travelers no longer have to pay attention to the environment or directions at all.To address this program and facilitate traveler's spatial awareness, researchers adapt augmented reality (AR) to display landmarks or information on head-mounted displays during navigation (see Liu et al., 2021; Keil et al., 2020).This study investigates the theory of displaying AR landmarks on vehicle windshield to facilitate incidental spatial learning.At current state, this study focuses on testing the theory of how AR landmarks and road condition contribute to acquiring different levels of spatial knowledge.