Drivers' information requirements when navigating in an urban environment

Navigating in unfamiliar road environments is a common and demanding cognitive activity. If this cannot be accomplished successfully, there are implications for increased driver workload, delays due to navigation errors, potentially unsafe road behaviour such as late lane changes, and inappropriate traffic management. To enable successful navigation through such environments, it is necessary to understand what the navigation task entails, and what a driver’s corresponding information requirements are. This paper reports the results of a study that sought to identify what information is used by drivers when navigating within a range of urban driving environments, how this information is used, and what the implications are for the design of navigation aids.