# Situational Awareness Assessment of Drivers Boosted by Eye-Tracking Metrics: A Literature Review
## 5 Conclusions  
Collectively, the applications of SA evaluation have become extremely popular; however, this expansion of applications is accompanied by a wide range of challenges stemming from methodological intricacies and precision-related considerations in estimating driver awareness. In response, a combination of objective and subjective methodologies has become imperative to harmonize and align with the distinct requirements of each study. This synergy should aim to evolve into robust frameworks that can enhance the seamless integration of monitoring, measurement, and assessment of driver awareness, thereby fostering a more comprehensive and advanced approach.  
In this review, we introduced driver SA assessment by the eye-tracking metrics framework and examined this framework based on a scientometric analysis, demographic comparison of experiments (sample size, gender, age, and the field of application), eye-tracking metrics, oculomotor events, the effects of the environment surrounding the experiments (naturalistic or simulated driving), the preferred type of eye-tracker devices, and emphasis on the discussion of the relationship between SA and eye tracking in the field of driving. We showed that keyword clusters for physiological measures and comprehension of driver behavior are the most used approaches in the literature reviewed.  
Our results also revealed a relationship between eye-tracking metrics and SA, especially at perception level 1; furthermore, the results revealed how eye-tracking metrics contribute objectively to the assessment of the driver's gaze behavior, mainly in simulated environments and less so in naturalistic environments.  
The most popularly used eye-tracking metrics for the study of SA are fixation, saccade, and pupillary metrics. The preferred eye trackers for the experiments are those that are less intrusive for the operator and those that possess a wireless connection. These results can support decision makers in selecting appropriate eye-tracking metrics to integrate into experiments, eye-tracker types, and information for designing data collection protocols.  
Future research will be based on the challenges in the studies of driver awareness, the need for efforts in the study of driver awareness in industrial environments, the inclusion of bigger samples of women drivers, and more studies in naturalistic driving environments that allow the study of real-time data from actual environments. Likewise, the review aspires to clarify the relation between SA and eye tracking toward future work in the design of driving assistance solutions based on the study of driver behavior in risk situations or situations with mental workload and by using support alert systems. Thus, safer behavior can be realized, and accidents can be reduced by improving the SA of the driver.  
Conceptualization, C.Y.A.-P.; methodology, C.Y.A.-P.; validation, C.Y.A.-P., J.M.-V. and M.C.; formal analysis, C.Y.A.-P.; investigation, C.Y.A.-P.; resources, C.Y.A.-P.; data curation, C.Y.A.-P., J.M.-V. and M.C.; writing--original draft preparation, C.Y.A.-P.; writing--review and editing, C.Y.A.-P., J.M.-V. and M.C.; visualization, C.Y.A.-P.; supervision, J.M.-V. and M.C.; project administration, J.M.-V. and M.C.; funding acquisition, J.M.-V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** At the time of writing, C.Y.A.-P., was supported by Tecnologico de Monterrey scholarship and was supported by CONACYT scholarship.  
**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Data Availability Statement:** No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.