Driving Cross-Reality Experiences for Future Mobility

Automated vehicles at SAE level 5 will remove the necessity for a human driver, enabling passengers to engage in non-driving activities, like accessing infotainment services or conducting office tasks. Previous studies have explored the use of non-driving content on windshield displays; however, this approach has limitations due to restricted placement and visibility from just one viewpoint, resulting in perspective issues. To address this, our proposal involves separating the content from the windshield and employing the augmented reality space to visualize immersive content to passengers by using cross-reality technology. In a virtual reality pilot study, we investigated how passengers positioned infotainment content windows, along with their specific characteristics, in the available space using VR controllers while seated in the front of a fully automated vehicle. The results show that particularly engaging video content was preferred to be placed on an AR windshield display, while other content placements were influenced by traditional vehicle interface designs.