Designing a user interface for improving the awareness of mining vehicle operators

Vehicle accidents are a major concern in open pit mines around the world. Factors such as visibility, fatigue and human error are the cause of many collisions in surface mines. These factors have a direct impact in the awareness of the vehicle operators. Intelligent transportation systems can address these factors and consequently benefit vehicular safety. Technology has the potential to effectively aid the operator in the tasks of driving and positively contribute in the overall safety of the mine. However, the design and implementation of these systems and their user interfaces is not trivial. This paper presents a strategy for improving the driver's awareness and introduces the design of a user interface that helps the operator in the process of decision making. The system infers the presence of nearby threats and high risk situations and communicates this information to the operator in a combination of audio-visual cues. This paper presents an overview of the mechanism designed to infer high risk situations. Experimental results obtained from real-life operation of the system in several mine sites in Australia and overseas demonstrated how the information provided can enhance the operator's awareness and contribute to an improvement in vehicle safety.