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Problem Identification:
Drivers often find themselves distracted when using in-car infotainment systems, due to limited capacity of working memory, sometimes requiring them to pull over to the side of the road to complete an action. This project is to improve in-car systems based on factors such as screen size, menu depth.
As shown in the figure, the current in-car screen system has a significant impact on the user's reaction speed (even exceeding drunk driving), and users sometimes have to pull over and park before operating when using it.
Design Implication:
This a typical state-of-art in-car UI from Google Android Auto.
Google clearly realizes that too many icons can seriously affect the driver's attention, so it did not simply port the Android system over. Instead, it uses a design with super-large icons and a fixed bottom taskbar (which can be used to display key vehicle information, such as air conditioning temperature, seat heating, or car speed).
However, Android Auto does not arrange applications by category, and the icon layout is only 2x2, which is not very efficient.
According to the conclusions discussed in the paper, classifying icons and using a 4x8 structure would be a very balanced choice.
Improved Design
We followed the conclusions of the paper and changed the layout to 4xN, and the applications were merged and displayed according to the category. This can reduce the attention that users are distracted by using the UI. At the same time, we also retained quick widgets (such as brightness adjustment and Bluetooth switch), so that users can complete the required tasks with just one click.
Evaluation Plan:
We can evaluate the drivers' reaction time by following:
Participants drive through same route 4 times, with two same cars, except that the UI system are different. Drivers will take breaks between drives.
Participants will be asked to finish tasks. These tasks included playing music on Spotify, playing a radio station on the BBC iPlayer Radio app, navigating, receiving text messages, and making a call.
3. While driving with tasks, participants will be asked to react to red bar events. Red bar events is shown above the carriageway and ahead of the driven vehicles across all motorway lanes. This is shown in right figure. Participants were instructed to respond by pulling back the right-hand indicator stalk as quickly as possible. If drivers failed to respond within 10 seconds, this was treated as a missed event.
By comparing the reaction time of two different system, one is Android Auto and another is our improved UI, we can conclude which design is more effective.
References
Burnett, G. E., Lawson, G., Donkor, R., & Kuriyagawa, Y. (2013). Menu hierarchies for in-vehicle user-interfaces: Modelling the depth vs. breadth trade-off. Displays, 34(4), 241-249.
Grahn, H., & Kujala, T. (2020). Impacts of touch screen size, user interface design, and subtask boundaries on in-car task's visual demand and driver distraction. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 142, 102467.
Ramnath, R., Kinnear, N., Chowdhury, S., & Hyatt, T. (2020). Interacting with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay when driving: The effect on driver performance. IAM RoadSmart Published Project Report PPR948.
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