Visual Interfaces in Driving Remote-Controlled Vehicles

A great deal of research today is concerned with the study of the cognitive processes involved in the realization of spatial displacements. In this article, we will analyze how the introduction of interfaces affects the conditions in which a displacement is produced and controlled. We will attempt to show that as the situation becomes less and less natural, the already important role played by visual information increases and the ways in which visual information is presented on the interfaces change as the modalities increase in number. Our discussion will not only be supported by fundamental and applied research on the mental representation of space and the visual control of displacement, but also by the few available studies on tele-operated situations.