NADS research staff has a broad range of expertise in cognitive systems engineering, transportation safety, and simulation. As a research unit at The University of Iowa, NADS has full-time research staff with ample experience in every aspect of study design, implementation, analysis, and reporting. Staff works to ensure the consistency, quality, and timely completion of data collection and of reports and papers documenting research conducted on the client’s behalf. NADS also works closely with faculty and students in support of the university’s research, education, and service missions, providing clients with access to faculty and graduate researchers in a number of colleges at The University of Iowa. NADS staff and affiliated faculty represent some of the top researchers in the field, conducting cutting-edge research on a variety of topics, including driver behavior, drugs and driver impairment, driver distraction, and driver performance while interacting with advanced vehicle systems.

NADS researchers have developed unique measures and data processing approaches to advance researchers’ ability to understand driver responses in the simulator. These efforts have been instrumental in interpreting driver response and behavior in normal driving and crash situations. NADS staff has particular expertise in the analysis and interpretation of eye-tracking data and crash events.

To help extend the findings of research efforts, NADS designs studies to facilitate the development of human performance models related to driving. This research utilizes current research findings to further develop and validate existing models of driving behavior, as well as develop new models in a variety of driving situations. Driver modeling efforts have been highly effective at enhancing research findings in the area of longitudinal vehicle control and advanced safety warning systems.

The primary goal of the NADS is to improve driving safety by conducting independent research that examines research questions related to driver behavior and systems safety. Although research can be supported on many topics, the NADS provides particular expertise in the following areas:

Advanced Safety Technology. Working with industry and government partners, NADS has a rich research program examining a wide range of driver warning and crash avoidance telematics systems.

- Forward collision warning systems - Lane departure warning systems - Road departure warning systems - Blind spot warning systems - Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) - Electronic stability control (ESC) - Adaptive cruise control (ACC)

In-Vehicle Information Systems. Projects in this focus area include research on operator performance while using a range of driver information and distraction mitigation systems.

- Wireless phone use - Route navigation - In-vehicle email - In-vehicle text messaging - Cab geometry/placement of displays and controls

Visibility. As the ability to obtain visual information from the environment is critical to safe driving, NADS has collaborated with sponsors from various agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration and the Food and Drug Administration. NADS studies in this focus area examine the ability of drivers to identify objects in the driving environment and to understand their surroundings.

Clinical Trials Support. In conjunction with numerous medical researchers, NADS has collaborated on the clinical evaluation of effects of a variety of medications and devices on driver performance.

Older Drivers . Due to the criticality of understanding the impacts of aging on driving performance, NADS has worked with a variety of clients to examine the potential changes in driver behavior associated with aging and technology-based mitigation strategies that might benefit or impact older drivers.

- Simulator and on-road studies of age-related effects on various measures of performance - Blind spot warning systems - Electronic stability control

Novice Drivers. Projects in this focus area include research on novice driver behavior and attitudes, as well as on technology-based interventions to mitigate young driver crash risk.

- Longitudinal questionnaire studies regarding driving and risk-taking - Simulator and on-road studies of age-related effects on various measures of performance - Blind spot warning systems - Eletronic stability control

Crash Biomechanics. Collaborating with researchers in the Colleges of Engineering, Medicine, and Public Health, the UI has a unique capability for providing research expertise in physics-based electronic figure modeling. UI researchers have developed a new generation of digital humans comprising realistic human models. The model is called Santos™, and it includes anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, and intelligence that generates behavior in real time. When combined with the sophisticated driving simulation environment at the NADS, this model becomes one of the most highly sophisticated biomechanics tools available to aid in vehicle design.

Driver State Monitoring and Prediction. Projects in this focus area include a number of research efforts examining the most reliable and accurate methods of assessing and determining the current state of the driver.

- Eye behavior - Vehicle control - Electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements - Developing and testing of real-time driver models to predict driver state

Although human factors support is generally focused on research conducted on one of the NADS simulators, NADS also can provide a variety of human factors support services for research conducted off-site.

Selected references:
The influence of first- and second-generation anti-histamines
and alcohol on driving performance,
Bloomfield, J.R., Weiler, J.M., Grant, A.R., Brown, T.L., Layton, T.A., Grant, P.R., Woodsworth, G.G, McKenzie, D.R., Baker, T.W., Young, M.A.,
Contemporary Ergonomics, 1999

An attention-based model of driver performance in rear-end collisions,
Brown, T.L., Lee, J.D., McGehee, D.V.,
Transportation Research Record, 1992

Human performance models and rear-end crash avoidance algorithms,
Brown, T.L., Lee, J.D., McGehee, D.V.,
Human Factors, 2001

The effects of anabolic steroids on driving performance
as assessed by the Iowa Driving Simulator,
Ellingrod, V.L., Perry, P.J., Yates, W.R., MacIndoe, J.H.,
Watson, G.S., Arndt, S.T., Holman, T.L.,
AJDAA, 1997

Speech-based interaction with in-vehicle computers: The effect of speech-based
e-mail on drivers' attention to the road,
Lee, J.D., Caven, B., Haake, S., Brown, T.L.,
Human Factors, 2001

Prior exposure, warning algorithm parameters and driver response
to imminent rear-end collisions on a high-fidelity simulator,
Lee, J.D., McGehee, D.V., Brown, T.L.,,
Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2000

Collision warning timing, driver distraction, and driver response to imminent
rear-end collisions in a high-fidelity driving simulator,
Lee, J.D., McGehee, D.V., Brown, T.L., Reyes, M.L.,
Human Factors, 2002

Annoyance and urgency of auditory alerts for in-vehicle information systems,
Marshall, D., Lee, J.D., Austria, A.,
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 45th Annual Meeting, 2001

The effect of warning timing on collision avoidance
behavior in a stationary lead-vehicle situation,
McGehee, D.V., Brown, T.L., Lee, J.D., Wilson, T.,,
Transportation Research Board, 2002

A synthesis of simulator sickness studies conducted in a
high-fidelity driving simulator,
Watson, G.S., Driving Simulation Conference. Paris, France, 2000

Effects of fexofenadine, diphenhydramine, and alcohol on driving performance: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial in the Iowa Driving Simulator,
Weiler, J.M., Bloomfield, J.R., Woodworth, G.G., Grant, A.R., Layton, T.A., Brown, T.L., McKenzie, D.R., Baker, T.W., Watson, G.S.,,
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2000