Temporary blindness, caused by glare or fog while driving
can lead to serious traffic accidents. We present a novel haptic
interface that improves over existing haptic steering systems
by not only conveying when and in which direction to steer,
but also how much, which facilitates steering with limited or
no visual feedback. Steering cues are provided through a vibrotactor
integrated in the left and right side of the steering
wheel, similar to how rumble strips work. Drivers steer away
from a cue felt in either hand in order to find a dead-band window
that indicates the target orientation of the wheel, which
is adjusted as the car drives through the curve. User studies
evaluate two different haptic encoding mechanisms and
assess the effect of haptic feedback on steering performance
when used in conjunction with visual feedback. Results show
that our steering interface allows for blind steering through
small (45) curves and that it improves a driver’s lane keeping
ability when used in conjunction with visual feedback.