Why I’m driven to optimize in-car experiences
Exploring drivers’ understanding, trust, and feelings towards advanced technology in cars
Update (10/7/2021): the results from this study are in! Find them in my second article: https://link.medium.com/3xadIF4uakb
How much in-car information is too much?
Technology has become ubiquitous in modern vehicles.
Head-up displays, lane detection, and cameras surrounding the vehicle are a handful of advances that are now standard. Such technology can be hard to understand and may even be disorienting, leading one to ask: is all of this information truly necessary for drivers?
In my independent study running from June onwards, I will be evaluating the value different driver assistance systems bring to drivers. Specifically, I want to explore people’s opinions on the visualizations displayed by advanced driving systems and determine when they’d like more or less information.
So, why am I doing all this amidst my 40 hour/week Master’s Capstone Project? The answer is simple: I’m passionate about designing safe, optimal, and satisfactory in-car experiences. The first step to achieving that is user research, the role I aspire to take on after graduate school.
Human-Drivers Only!
At a high level, the automotive industry centers around two areas: what currently exists and what could be. There’s the autonomous, self-driving vehicle space (i.e. “what could be”) and the human-driven vehicle space (i.e. current cars on the road).
My research is focused on the latter area for two reasons. First, I’m fascinated by the technology embedded in present-day cars. More specifically, I’m interested in the systems that assist with safe driving, cruise control, and parking, among other features.
Second, in a self-driving car, there is no real driver, just passengers. Designing in-car experiences is more centered around productivity and entertainment than driver assistance, the area I want to learn more about.
With this in mind, my independent study aims to explore the icons and visualizations that aid people’s understanding of the use-cases of driving assistance features and trust in the overall system.
Advanced-Driver-Whats?
The technical name for the aforementioned technology is Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS). It may sound intimidating, but when you split the system into its parts, it’s mostly systems you’ve seen before.
The types of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) I’m exploring are…
Blind-spot monitoring
This monitoring system notifies the driver if another vehicle is adjacent to their car, helping detect vehicles in one’s blind spot. This is typically conveyed by a glowing icon on each mirror.
Lane departure warning and lane-keep assist
A Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system notifies the driver when they’re about to go out of their lane (when turn signals are off). Usually, this is accomplished through an audible signal accompanied by a lit-up icon.
More assistance is provided to keep drivers in their lanes with Lane Keeping Assist (LKA). This system automatically steers and/or brakes to keep vehicles in their lane. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that LKA doesn’t drive for you and it certainly isn’t perfect.
To ensure the driver is paying attention and their hands are still on the wheel, the system will deactivate when it believes the driver is not paying attention and audibly and/or visually tell the operator to steer.
Adaptive cruise control
With adaptive cruise control, you still set your car’s speed like in traditional cruise control. However, this advanced technology automatically increases and decreases your speed up to the rate you set, and sustains a following distance you establish (measured in car lengths).
Parking assistance
These systems are more straightforward and likely one of the most commonly recognized. They include backup cameras and surround view, a camera shows your car and its surroundings from a birds-eye view.
Forward collision warning and automatic collision braking
The forward collision warning notifies the driver when the car is about to hit an object from the front. It often collaborates with automatic collision braking, which automatically stops the car when it’s extremely close to getting into a crash.
Traffic sign recognition
This recognition system automatically detects various traffic signs on the road to show to the driver. Signs identified can include speed limits, pedestrian signs, and school crossings.
A (Test) Ride to Remember
As a future researcher in the automotive industry, it’s imperative that I become familiar with in-car studies.
At first, I planned to conduct observational studies to look at all the types of information people use while driving, both embedded in the car and externally (i.e. on a cell phone). However, after a discussion with my mentor and faculty advisor, I realized I needed to narrow in my scope. From there, I decided to solely focus on Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems embedded in cars.
To learn about people’s feelings, need for, and understanding of various Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems visualizations, I set up a ride-along study to test the following hypotheses:
- The context of the participant’s drive (e.g. route familiarity, local roads vs. highways) will affect how valuable different types of information and visualizations are to the driver.
- The more familiar a driver is with both the car and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems, the more ADAS information they’ll feel comfortable and trust using.
Looking Ahead
User testing is underway and it’s looking like the definition of certain ADAS features and their active state is questionable to some participants. Read more about my findings in my next article, coming soon!
A special shout out and thank you to my faculty advisor Raelin Musaraca and MHCI mentor Nick Hoppesch for their guidance and advice throughout this project.
