A user experience‐based toolset for automotive human‐machine interface technology development

The development of new automotive Human-Machine Interface (HMI) technologies must consider the competing and often conflicting demands of commercial value, User Experience (UX) and safety. Technology innovation offers manufacturers the opportunity to gain commercial advantage in a competitive and crowded marketplace, leading to an increase in the features and functionality available to the driver. User response to technology influences the perception of the brand as a whole, so it is important that in-vehicle systems provide a high-quality user experience. However, introducing new technologies into the car can also increase accident risk. The demands of usability and UX must therefore be balanced against the requirement for driver safety. Adopting a technology-focused business strategy carries a degree of risk, as most innovations fail before they reach the market. Obtaining clear and relevant information on the UX and safety of new technologies early in their development can help to inform and support robust product development (PD) decision making, improving product outcomes. In order to achieve this, manufacturers need processes and tools to evaluate new technologies, providing customer-focused data to drive development. This work details the development of an Evaluation Toolset for automotive HMI technologies encompassing safety-related functional metrics and UX measures. The Toolset consists of four elements: an evaluation protocol, based on methods identified from the Human Factors, UX and Sensory Science literature; a fixed-base driving simulator providing a context-rich, configurable evaluation environment, supporting both hardware and software-based technologies; a standardised simulation scenario providing a repeatable basis for technology evaluations, allowing comparisons across multiple technologies and studies; and a technology scorecard that collates and presents evaluation data to support PD decision making processes

Emulation of haptic feedback for manual interfaces

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-339).by Karon E. MacLean.Ph.D

Developing and Evaluating the driving and powertrain systems of automated and electrified vehicles (AEVs) for sustainable transport

In the transition towards sustainable transport, automated and electrified vehicles (AEVs) play a key role in overcoming challenges such as fuel consumption, emissions, safety, and congestion. The development and assessment of AEVs require bringing together insights from multiple disciplines such as vehicle studies to design and control AEVs and traffic flow studies to describe and evaluate their driving behaviours. This thesis, therefore, addresses the needs of automotive and civil engineers, and investigates three classes of problems: optimizing the driving and powertrain systems of AEVs, modelling their driving behaviours in microscopic traffic simulation, and evaluating their performance in real-world driving conditions. The first part of this thesis proposes Pareto-based multi-objective optimization (MOO) frameworks for the optimal sizing of powertrain components, e.g., battery and ultracapacitor, and for the integrated calibration of control systems including adaptive cruise control (ACC) and energy management strategy (EMS). We demonstrate that these frameworks can bring collective improvements in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ride comfort, safety, and cost-effectiveness. The second part of this thesis develops microscopic free-flow or car-following models for reproducing longitudinal driving behaviours of AEVs in traffic simulation, which can support the needs to predict the impact of AEVs on traffic flow and maximize their benefits to the road network. The proposed models can account for electrified vehicle dynamics, road geometric characteristics, and sensing/perception delay, which have significant effects on driving behaviours of AEVs but are largely ignored in traffic flow studies. Finally, we systematically evaluate the energy and safety performances of AEVs in real-world driving conditions. A series of vehicle platoon experiments are carried out on public roads and test tracks, to identify the difference in driving behaviours between ACC-equipped vehicles and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) and to examine the impact of ACC time-gap settings on energy consumption

A human factors systems approach to exploring vehicle rollaway

Failure of a parked unattended vehicle to remain stationary, otherwise known as vehicle rollaway, can result in property damage, injury or even fatality. Although the incidence of vehicle rollaway may be under reported, around 8% of drivers and 13% of Approved Driving Instructors surveyed indicated they had experienced a vehicle rollaway event. Unlike previous studies which focused only on the mechanical factors that may contribute to this phenomenon, the research presented in this thesis employed a more comprehensive, systems approach to explore additional factors related to the driver s interaction with the parking brake system at various interface levels. A mixed methods strategy collated data through two online surveys and three observational studies to explore the organisational, mechanical and driver related factors identified in a fault tree framework. The results indicated that current driver practice and interaction with the parking brake system may be contrary to legislative requirements and manufacturer s instruction. The findings suggested that a past experience of vehicle rollaway or parking brake system failure, had a statistically significant influence on whether the driver complied with the recommended practice. Driver interaction and the holding capability of the parking brake system were observed in 53 vehicles parked on three test gradients. The observations indicated that drivers were able to apply sufficient force to the parking brake lever to hold the vehicle stationary and that an additional degree of confidence in the system was provided by parking in gear. But, after driving a short commuting route, when the vehicle was parked with the parking brake lever applied to the lowest position to hold the vehicle and a gear was not selected, 63% of vehicles fitted with disc brakes rolled as the temperature returned to ambient. Discussion relates to the organisational, driver related and mechanical components of the parking brake system and in reference to Reason s Swiss Cheese model, considers how latent failures within the defensive layers of the system can contribute to rollaway. The research findings contributed to a change in UK driving standards and since 2015, drivers are recommended to park in gear at all times to reduce the risk of rollaway. This recommendation is likely to require a change in practice for up to 80% of Approved Driving Instructors who would not normally instruct new drivers in this way. Although this research focused on the manually operated parking brake system, the studies have uncovered results that can contribute to knowledge and are applicable to interaction with electronic parking brake systems. As parking brake systems develop, the Human Factors systems approach can be applied retrospectively and proactively to explore that interaction and prevent passenger vehicle rollaway

Investigation of in-vehicle speech intelligibility metrics for normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners

The effectiveness of in-vehicle speech communication can be a good indicator of the perception of the overall vehicle quality and customer satisfaction. Currently available speech intelligibility metrics do not account in their procedures for essential parameters needed for a complete and accurate evaluation of in-vehicle speech intelligibility. These include the directivity and the distance of the talker with respect to the listener, binaural listening, hearing profile of the listener, vocal effort, and multisensory hearing. In the first part of this research the effectiveness of in-vehicle application of these metrics is investigated in a series of studies to reveal their shortcomings, including a wide range of scores resulting from each of the metrics for a given measurement configuration and vehicle operating condition. In addition, the nature of a possible correlation between the scores obtained from each metric is unknown. The metrics and the subjective perception of speech intelligibility using, for example, the same speech material have not been compared in literature. As a result, in the second part of this research, an alternative method for speech intelligibility evaluation is proposed for use in the automotive industry by utilizing a virtual reality driving environment for ultimately setting targets, including the associated statistical variability, for future in-vehicle speech intelligibility evaluation. The Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) was evaluated at the sentence Speech Receptions Threshold (sSRT) for various listening situations and hearing profiles using acoustic perception jury testing and a variety of talker and listener configurations and background noise. In addition, the effect of individual sources and transfer paths of sound in an operating vehicle to the vehicle interior sound, specifically their effect on speech intelligibility was quantified, in the framework of the newly developed speech intelligibility evaluation method. Lastly, as an example of the significance of speech intelligibility evaluation in the context of an applicable listening environment, as indicated in this research, it was found that the jury test participants required on average an approximate 3 dB increase in sound pressure level of speech material while driving and listening compared to when just listening, for an equivalent speech intelligibility performance and the same listening task

SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION PATTERN DUE TO COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY IN KAMPONG HOUSE

ABSTRACT Kampung houses are houses in kampung area of the city. Kampung House oftenly transformed into others use as urban dynamics. One of the transfomation is related to the commercial activities addition by the house owner. It make house with full private space become into mixused house with more public spaces or completely changed into full public commercial building. This study investigate the spatial transformation pattern of the kampung houses due to their commercial activities addition. Site observations, interviews and questionnaires were performed to study the spatial transformation. This study found that in kampung houses, the spatial transformation pattern was depend on type of commercial activities and owner perceptions, and there are several steps of the spatial transformation related the commercial activity addition. Keywords: spatial transformation pattern; commercial activity; owner perception, kampung house; adaptabilit

Driver Attention Assessment from Gaze and Situational Variables

Fahrer, die der Fahrsituation nicht genügend Aufmerksamkeit widmen, stellen eine Gefahr für die Verkehrssicherheit dar. Dies liegt daran, dass in diesem Fall das Fahrvermögen der Betroffenen deutlich verringert ist, was in Folge zu einem erhöhten Unfallrisiko führt. Deshalb versprechen Systeme, die die Fahreraufmerksamkeit automatisch beurteilen und entsprechend warnen oder eingreifen können, eine große Verbesserung der Verkehrssicherheit. Hierbei ist aber eine genaue und echtzeitfähige Beurteilung der Fahreraufmerksamkeit bezüglich des damit verbundenen Unfallrisikos erforderlich. Diese Dissertation führt eine neue Methode zur Beurteilung von Fahreraufmerksamkeit im situativen Kontext ein. Es wird vorgeschlagen angemessenes Blickverhalten durch Blickstrategien in einem entscheidungstheoretischen Formalismus festzulegen. In diesem Ansatz werden Modelle der Fahrsit- uation sowie der Wahrnehmung und der Fahrzeugführung des Fahrers verwendet. Bisherige Arbeiten beurteilen Fahreraufmerksamkeit zumeist alleine anhand Fahr- und Blickverhaltens. Ein deutlicher Nachteil ist dabei, dass somit das Zusammenspiel aus Fahrerverhalten, Fahrsituation und Unfallrisiko vernachlässigt wird. Das ist umso gravierender, da bekannt ist, dass erfahrene Fahrer an die Fahrsituation abgestimmte Blickstrategien zeigen, die die Beeinträchtigung ihrer Fahrleistung abmildern können. Ähnliche Blickstrategien enstehen auf natürliche Art und Weise aus dem gewählten entscheidungstheoretischen Ansatz. In der Arbeit wird der entscheidungstheoretische Ansatz beispielhaft an der Fahraufgabe des Spurhaltens untersucht. Hier wird auf die Modellbildung, die Echtzeitberechnung, die passende Parametrisierung sowie auf die Evaluierung der Methode in der Anwendung in einem neuen Warnsystem eingegangen. Zuerst wird die Aufgabe des Spurhaltens bei einer Nebenaufgabe, die um die visuelle Aufmerksamkeit konkurriert, modelliert. Dazu wird ein Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) verwendet, der ein kinematisches Model der Fahraufgabe, ein Model der sensorischen Eigenschaften des Fahrers sowie ein Modell der Nebenaufgabe enthält. Danach wird die Berechnung von Strategien in dem POMDP untersucht. Diese Strategien dienen dazu das angemessene Blickverhalten festzulegen. Schließlich wird die Wirklichkeitstreue dieser Strategien überprüft und der erforderliche Rechenaufwand analysiert. Zweitens wird die Wahl einer passenden Belohnungsfunktion betrachtet. Diese ist deswegen von Bedeutung, da sie schlussendlich das angemessene Blickverhalten festlegt. Es wird ein neues Verfahren der inversen optimalen Steuerung entwickelt, das es vermag Parameter der Belohnungsfunktion aus dem Verhalten erfahrener Fahrer zu schätzen. In einem Experiment im Realverkehr erhobenes Fahrerverhalten wird benutzt um die entwickelte Methode hinsichtlich der Genauigkeit in der Verhaltensvorhersage zu prüfen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht drittens die Schätzung von Modellen der sensorischen Eigenschaften von Fahrern. Dazu wird der erste allgemeine Ansatz für dieses Inferenzproblem in sequenziellen Entscheidungsproblemen vorgestellt. Darauffolgend wird eine Umsetzung des Ansatzes für den vorherig eingeführten POMDP entwickelt. Das resultierende Verfahren wird mittels Fahrverhaltensdaten aus einem weiteren Fahrversuch geprüft. Schließlich wird viertens die Entwicklung eines Warnsystems und dessen Einbindung in ein Versuchsfahrzeug verfolgt. Das System zielt darauf ab den Fahrer bei der Aufrechterhaltung von genügen Aufmerksamkeit zu unterstützen. In einem abschließenden Nutzertest wird das entwickelte System mit einem Warnsystem nach dem aktuellen Stand der Technik verglichen, wobei sowohl die Akzeptanz durch die Nutzer als auch die Auswirkungen auf die Fahrleistung untersucht werden. Im Ganzen verdeutlicht diese Arbeit die Umsetzbarkeit und die Vorteile des verfolgten Ansatzes des angemessenen Blickverhaltens für die automatische Bewertung von Fahreraufmerksamkeit. Es wurde gezeigt, dass der benötigte Rechenaufwand eine Echtzeitanwendung zulässt und dass geeignete Modellparameter automatisch geschätzt werden können. Schließlich wurde die Verbesserung eines Ablenkungswarnsystems belegt. Folglich stellt die Methodologie, die in dieser Arbeit eingeführt wurde, einen vielversprechenden neuen Ansatz zur Bewertung von Fahreraufmerksamkeit dar, der die Probleme des aktuellen Standes der Technik vermeidet