Many intelligent driver assistance algorithms try to improve on-road safety by using driver eye gaze, commonly using foveal gaze as an estimate of human attention. While human visual acuity is highest in the foveal field of view, drivers often use their peripheral vision to process scene elements. Previous work in psychology has modeled this combination of foveal and peripheral gaze as a construct known as Functional Field of View (FFoV).
In this work, we study the shape and dynamics of the FFoV during active driving. We use a peripheral detection task in a virtual reality (VR) driving simulator with licensed drivers in urban driving settings. We find evidence that supports a vertically asymmetric (upward-inhibited) shape of the FFoV in our active driving task, similar to previous work in non-driving settings.