The Measurement of Driver's Mental Workload: A Simulation-Based Study

Many of the road accidents can be attributed to driver failures. Mental workload was an effective index of drivers' status, so measurement of driver's mental workload is significant to improve the driving safety. In this research, four types of measurements were adopted to measure the driver's mental workload on different road types and with presence or absence of the secondary task. The results showed that the combination of responses to the critical event of the leading car, heart rate and subjective mental workload rating was an effective approach to measure drivers' mental workload in this situation. Actual or potential applications of this research include developing driver status monitoring or warning system and developing an effective technique to evaluate driver distraction.