Distraction: Friend or Foe

The classic image in the psychology of driver-car interaction is that of a driver that wants to pay attention to the road: the job of designers is to avoid drawing the driver’s attention away from the road. A number of changes in drivers and cars makes this approach obsolete. Specifically, the following questions are pertinent: • Do drivers want to pay attention to the road? • Can drivers pay attention to the road? • Is attention/distraction the right metric for assessing the effects (positive or negative) of design? • How do new interfaces necessitate a change in our thinking about attention/distraction? • How do fully automated (autonomous) and partially automated vehicles necessitate a change in our thinking about attention/distraction? • How can interface design improve driver attention/performance (as opposed to merely reducing attentional demands)

Got Info? Examining the Consequences of Inaccurate Information Systems

It is a desirable goal to balance information given to the user with the potential adverse effects on cognitive processing and perception of information systems. In this experiment, we investigated the minimum level of information accuracy necessary in an in-car information system to elicit positive behavioral and attitudinal responses from the driver. There were 60 participants, and each drove in a simulator for 25 minutes; driving performance data was automatically collected, and drivers later completed questionnaires for attitudinal data. Participants were divided into three groups of drivers: a group driving with a 100% accurate system, another driving with a 70% accurate system, and one group driving without an in-car system. There was a definite positive effect on driving performance with the in-car system, and results show that decreasing the accuracy of the system decreases both the driving performance and the trust of the in-car system. Data also indicates that female drivers have a higher tolerance of inaccuracies in an in-car system; design implications are discussed

Context and Usability Testing: User-Modeled Information Presentation in Easy and Difficult Driving Conditions

A 2x2 enhanced Wizard-of-Oz experiment (N = 32) was conducted to compare two different approaches to presenting information to drivers in easy and difficult driving conditions. Data of driving safety, evaluation of the spoken dialogue system, and perception of self were analyzed. Results show that the user-modeled summarizeand- refine (UMSR) approach led to more efficient information retrieval than did the summarize-and-refine (SR) approach. However, depending on driving condition, higher efficiency did not always translate into pleasant subjective experience. Implications for usability testing and interface design were presented, followed by discussions of future research directions

Being watched or being special: How I learned to stop worrying and love being monitored, surveilled and assessed

ABSTRACT This paper explores the relationship between display of feedback (public vs. private) by a computer system and the basis for evaluation (present vs. absent) of that feedback. We employ a social interpersonal context (speed-dating) in a controlled laboratory setting. Participants (in male-female pairs) receive real-time performance feedback, either only about themselves (private) or about both participants (public). Participant perceptions of monitoring, conformity, and self-consciousness about themselves and their dating partner, as well as perceptions of system invasiveness, system competence, and system support are assessed. There is a consistent pattern of significant interaction between feedback display and basis for evaluation conditions. Public feedback with an added, trivial basis for evaluation creates significantly lower perceptions of monitoring, conformity, self-consciousness, and system invasiveness, than do the other three conditions. Additionally, there is a main effect for basis for evaluation with respect to system competence and supportiveness; the presence of a basis produces more positive assessments than its absence. This research shows that reactions to being monitored and evaluated do not differ strictly along the dimension of public vs. private; basis for evaluation of feedback functions as a mediator and thus co-determines participant attitudinal responses. The implications are discussed at several levels, and motivate a broader cultural explanation in terms of the theory of rationalization. Issues concerning the utility of linking laboratory settings to larger cultural contexts in this and related fields of inquiry are presented

Facial expression analysis for predicting unsafe driving behavior

Abstract-Pervasive computing provides an ideal framework for active driver support systems in that context-aware systems are embedded in the car to support an ongoing human task. In the current study, we investigate how and with what success tracking driver facial features can add to the predictive accuracy of driver assistance systems. Using web cameras and a driving simulator, we captured facial expressions and driving behaviors of 49 participants while they drove a scripted 40 minute course. We extracted key facial features of the drivers using a facial recognition software library and trained machine learning classifiers on the movements of these facial features and the outputs from the car. We identified key facial features associated with driving accidents and evaluated their predictive accuracy at varying pre-accident intervals, uncovering important temporal trends. We also discuss implications for real life driver assistance systems

What If Your Car Would Care? Exploring Use Cases For Affective Automotive User Interfaces

In this paper we present use cases for affective user interfaces (UIs) in cars and how they are perceived by potential users in China and Germany. Emotion-aware interaction is enabled by the improvement of ubiquitous sensing methods and provides potential benefits for both traffic safety and personal well-being. To promote the adoption of affective interaction at an international scale, we developed 20 mobile in-car use cases through an inter-cultural design approach and evaluated them with 65 drivers in Germany and China. Our data shows perceived benefits in specific areas of pragmatic quality as well as cultural differences, especially for socially interactive use cases. We also discuss general implications for future affective automotive UI. Our results provide a perspective on cultural peculiarities and a concrete starting point for practitioners and researchers working on emotion-aware interfaces

Bringing design considerations to the mobile phone and driving debate

ABSTRACT Though legislation is increasingly discouraging drivers from holding on to their mobile phones while talking, hands-free devices do not improve driver safety. We offer two design alternatives to improve driver safety in the contexts of voice-based user interfaces and mobile phone conversations in cars-side tones (auditory feedback used in landline phones) and location of speakers. In a 2 (side tone: present vs. not) x 2 (location of speakers: headphones vs. dashboard) between-participants experiment (N=48), we investigated the impact of these features upon driver experience and performance on a simulated mobile phone conversation while driving. Participants became more verbally engaged in the conversation when side tones were present, but also experienced more cognitive load. Participants drove more safely when voices were projected from the dashboard rather than from headphones. Implications for driver user interface design are discussed