A Case Study of A Touch-Based Interface for In-Car Audio Systems

Abstract

Current in-car audio systems are part of a demanding driver-vehicle interaction that is responsible for a high number of traffic accidents. This paper addresses this issue and describes some common problems regarding current in-car audio systems. A project is presented which was initiated to explore alternative interfaces using touch-based interaction, resulting in a working prototype, tested on 25 people. The prototype demonstrates how the focus on touch interaction and the change of position and interface controls, without the use of any expensive or advanced technology, can significantly alter the drivers' operation of the in-car audio system. The results are encouraging.

KEYWORDS:

• Touch-based interaction
• multimodal interfaces
• traffic safety

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hans Vanhauwaert Bjelland

BIOGRAPHYM

Hans Vanhauwaert Bjelland holds a Masters of Science in Industrial Design Engineering from the Department of Product Design, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. He is now employed as a research fellow at the same department with research related to touch-based interaction design. His key area of research is touch-based interfaces in complex systems.

Thomas Hoff

Dr Thomas Hoff, Associate Professor of Organizational Psychology and Innovation Studies at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo also holds a position at the Department of Product Design Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. His research focuses on the interplay between humans and their immediate surroundings (ecological psychology), and the implications of this theoretical position for aspects of Human-Technology Interaction, organizational psychology and innovation studies. Hoff is Co-Project Leader of the transdiciplinary programme Technical Spaces of Mobility, and Co-Editor of the anthology based on that project. From 2007 Hoff holds a position at the Center of Advanced Studies at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters where the implications of the aforementioned project will be prolonged in the light of innovation.

Cato A. BjØRkli

Cato Alexander Bjørkli is a clinical psychologist with a PhD in Psychology on the theme human-technology interaction including several international publications. His main fields of interest spans across philosophical, methodological, theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between humans and their technology. Key areas of competence are the modelling of human performance in complex systems, the methodology for the study of human performance in complex system and design and innovation.

Kjell I. ØVergÅRd

Kjell Ivar Øvergård holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from the Department of Psychology, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. He is now employed as a research fellow at the same department with research related to the human cognitive and neural basis for maintaining control over technical processes. Øvergård's writing has appeared in international publications in the fields of ergonomics, interaction design and human factors research.