Heart Rate Changes in Critical Situations in a Vehicle Simulator

This article is about a study of the heart rate of drivers in a vehicle simulator and its changes when the drivers are confronted with critical and potentially collision situations. The drivers' heart rate was measured while driving in a car simulator. After traversing a certain section of the created simulation route, a critical situation occurred in the simulation, which forced the drivers to react quickly. The aim of this study was to determine the probability of a significant increase in heart rate of drivers after the confrontation with this critical situation and to deduce from this whether the measurement of heart rate in driving simulators can be used as an indicator of critical or stressful situations. The Wahoo Tickr X chest strap was selected to measure the heart rate of the drivers and 30 drivers of different sexes and ages were measured. A total of three minutes of heart rate recordings were evaluated per driver, two minutes before the start of the critical situation and one minute after the start of the critical situation. Three different methods were developed to identify a significant increase in heart rate after the start of the critical situation, and a comparison between the parameters of the section before the start of the critical situation and the section after the start of the critical situation was also performed. The first main result of this study is the probability of a significant increase in the heart rate of drivers in a vehicle simulator in critical situations. The second main result is a comparison of the extent to which this increase in heart rate is unique to the critical situation, i.e. whether similar or greater increases in heart rate occur even before the critical situation. The results of this study are generally applicable on any vehicle simulators including simulators developed for smart city vehicles.