Road transport is one of the major causes of the environmental pollution. In addition, road traffic injuries are a serious public health problem in the European Region, with huge social and financial adverse effects. A leading cause for both issues is aggressive driving.Driver’s style makes a difference in terms of fuel consumption, with a stretch up to 35 % between a calm and an aggressive one. Individuals can contribute in the reduction of CO2 emission associated to personal transportation by operating their vehicles more efficiently.To make this change more effective, GamECAR will put in place an innovative strategy building on Gamification.
GamECAR system will unobtrusively sense physiological, behavioral, environmental and vehicle data that compose a novel eco-driving index and will provide the driver with personalized and proactive hints on how to adjust the current driving style. The setting of a multiplayer gaming environment will give the driver the opportunity to set missions and invite other to participate collaboratively or competitively. The use of innovative visualization techniques, such as Augmented Reality, will allow to monitor the ecodriving score evolution and to receive a personalized plan for improvement. GamECAR does not forget about safety: a model of risk perception is included in the Decision Supporting System, avoiding the triggering of distracting communication in situation with reduced safety margins. The evaluation of the developed technologies will be performed via small scale tests campaigns in three different pilot sites in UK, Spain and France.
Objectives
The driving style is influenced by a complex mixture of technical, social, psychological and cultural factors, with the latter tending to have a greater influence than the former. GamECAR wants to educate drivers to adopt a eco-friendly driving mode. However, to transform their automated behavior while driving into a deliberately controlled one, car drivers need to be motivated.
Reticence in modifying a consolidated driving manner can be offset by gamification because people are wired to get motivated by challenges and by the opportunity to be rewarded, preferably on an immediate and continuous basis. To steer such behavior shift through a playful and repaying experience, GamECAR will develop an Interactive Serious Game Platform that will motivate users to adopt a eco-friendly driving style without distracting them from safe driving. The playful experiences will take place in the real world and in real – time, rather than in a virtual or simulated environment, and will count on an infrastructure of technology capable of sensing and monitoring the driver conduct. The ultimate objective of GamECAR is to provide a highly innovative and interactive Serious Game platform empowering drivers to manage their driving performance by increasing their awareness of ecodriving state and the effectiveness of the intervention strategies through user friendly tools.
