How do pedestrians distribute their visual attention when walking through a parking garage? An eye-tracking study

De Winter, J. C. F., Bazilinskyy, P., Wesdorp, D., De Vlam, V., Hopmans, B., Visscher, J., Dodou, D.

Ergonomics, 64, 793–805 (2021)

ABSTRACT We examined what pedestrians look at when walking through a parking garage. Thirty-six participants walked a short route in a floor of a parking garage while their eye movements and head rotations were recorded with a Tobii Pro Glasses 2 eye-tracker. The participants’ fixations were then classified into 14 areas of interest. The results showed that pedestrians often looked at the back (20.0%), side (7.5%), and front (4.2%) of parked cars, and at approaching cars (8.8%). Much attention was also paid to the ground (20.1%). The wheels of cars (6.8%) and the driver in approaching cars (3.2%) received attention as well. In conclusion, this study showed that eye movements are largely functional in the sense that they appear to assist in safe navigation through the parking garage. Pedestrians look at a variety of sides and features of the car, suggesting that displays on future automated cars should be omnidirectionally visible.