School of Science and Technology 科技學院
Computing Programmes 電腦學系
| Programme | Bachelor of Computing with Honours in Internet Technology |
| Supervisor | Dr. Keith LEE |
| Areas | E-Learning |
| Year of Completion | 2019 |
According to some research studies, the crash rate of novice drivers is significantly higher than experienced drivers. Drivers who lack experience have less ability to detect hazards, including discovering, recognizing, and reacting against potentially dangerous situations in traffic. Therefore, compared to experienced drivers, novices and learner drivers bring higher risk to road safety. New drivers need to have more practice for developing expertise in driving.
The aim of this project is to use a mobile application to improve novices' and learner drivers' driving experience and let learner drivers get prepared for the driving test anywhere and anytime. The project also promotes safe driving by using smartphone to provide a driver training platform with high portability and functionality.
The mobile application provides road usage tutorials and driving tasks for app users to improve driving experience. With a simulated driving test in the app, learner drivers can get more prepared for the real driving test.
The project has defined a number of sub-objectives as follows:
System architecture
Figure 1: Modes in the game
Technologies and techniques used
Blender
We have used Blender to build models, including roads, buildings, and road signs.
Google Map Street View
Google Map Street View has been used to first obtain rough appearances of the objects.
Adobe Illustrator
We have used Adobe Illustrator to draw the road signs.
Figure 2: Different levels in tutorial mode
Figure 3: A hint indicating ‘No Stopping on the yellow box marking'
Figure 4: Leaderboard in Driving Test mode
Figure 5: A snapshot in the game
Figure 6: Main page
Figure 7: A snapshot in the game
Tutorials are divided into 3 categories, including Road Recognition (道路識別), Reaction to Actual Driving (實際行車), and Driving Habit Enhancement (駕駛習慣). In each category, different levels will be provided. There are also some instructions and hints in every tutorial to teach players driving skill and how to prevent making mistakes.
| Question | Min | Max | Mean | Median | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I think this application can help to learn driving. | 3 | 5 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5 |
| I think this application running smoothly. | 2 | 5 | 3.2 | 3 | 2, 3, 4 |
| I think the UI of this application is clear. | 3 | 5 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3 |
| I think the map of this application is authentic. | 4 | 5 | 4.7 | 5 | 5 |
| I think this application can help me to learn more about the driving test. | 3 | 5 | 4.1 | 4 | 4 |
| I think this application can improve my confidence on driving test. | 3 | 5 | 3.8 | 4 | 3, 4 |
Table 1: Statistics of User Experience reviewed by interviewees
The scale used in Table 1 based on 5-point Likert scale:
5: Strongly Agree
4: Agree
3: Neutral
2: Disagree
1: Strongly disagree
Table 1 shows that our application could help novice drivers and learner drivers to learn more about driving skills and driving rules. Most of our interviewees strongly agreed that the map of the game was authentic. The application can help users to recognize roads. It also reflected that we were needed to improve our user interface in the application to make it clearer and smoother.
Several works will be done to further improve our solution.
We will implement our driving-learning solution into a virtual reality environment (VR) with a gaming steering wheel and pedals. VR environment provides players with an immersive and realistic game scene. With VR technology, we can detect the head movement of players. Hence, blind spot observation can be done in the solution. Besides, with the support of a steering system and accelerators, we can provide training on improving driving skills more effectively and realistically in our solution as well.
Expanding our map is also an important task. As our map is now only limited to Ho Man Tin, player can only practise driving in this small area. We may create a bigger map with different places in Hong Kong, such as Hung Hom, Kowloon Tong, and Mong Kok. In addition, more driving test routes from different driving test centres should be added. It can lead to more learning drivers using the game for driver training and getting prepared for driving tests.
