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