A second pair of eyes: Evaluating a helmet-integrated multimodal HMI for proactive urban motorcyclist safety

Van Heuvelen, T., Bazilinskyy, P.

Adjunct Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutoUI). Gothenburg, Sweden (2026)

ABSTRACT Motorcyclists are highly vulnerable in complex traffic, where hazards are often detected too late for a timely response. We evaluated MOTEX, a helmet-integrated HMI that provides proactive directional cues through peripheral visual, auditory, and multimodal feedback. In a within-subject simulator study, 14 participants completed 16 scenarios based on common motorcycle crash typologies. The feedback mode did not significantly affect the reaction time or the minimum time-to-collision, although the visual and multimodal conditions showed numerically faster responses and greater safety margins than the audio and control conditions. Participants reported low cognitive workload, moderate trust, and generally positive evaluations of cue clarity. Perceived benefits of situation awareness were mixed, with most of participants reporting a neutral effect. These findings suggest that MOTEX may function less as a direct determinant of behavioural response and more as a supportive "second pair of eyes" for spatial confirmation.