Implications of Configurable Displays for Universal Driver-Vehicle Interfaces

Abstract

This study investigated the use of user-configurable displays for integrating multiple channels of information for drivers of future driving automation systems. The study measured the performance of drivers completing visual-manual secondary tasks on an in-vehicle display while driving a sedan during emulated traffic scenarios. Participants from two distinct age groups (20–35 and 50–65) experienced an expert-determined configuration in addition to their own participant-determined configuration across counterbalanced trials. Objective measures included task times and total eye-glance times. Subjective measures included preference configuration types. User configurability resulted in lower levels of visual distraction, thereby offering a potential safety benefit relative to a preconfigured system. However, though this study demonstrates a performance improvement, configurability may also encourage users to frequently interact with displays despite concurrently being responsible for performing the dynamic driving task.