HMIs Must Recognize Human Behavior

Experts at Convergence Agreed the safest next-generation human-machine interfaces will include a reconfigurable display with touch-screen controls and seamlessly integrated nomadic devices, such as iPods and cellular telephones.

They also say designers of new HMIs must consider the driver's most basic needs, improve driver performance and stimulate driver enthusiasm to improve safety.

This means designers must enhance the user-friendliness and reliability of the HMIs to eliminate distraction, says Ralph Bruder, of Germany's Darmstadt University of Technology.

Driver-assistance systems can help motorists, who will continue to insist on adding cell phones and portable devices to the systems' primary task of operating the automobile, he says. But drive-assistance can have a reverse effect, as well.

“Sometimes, assistance features can confuse drivers even more, leading to information overload,” Bruder says during a session on the role of HMIs.

For example, Bruder cites a Darmstadt study where German drivers lost confidence in traditional adaptive cruise control where the posted speed limit fell below 19 mph (30 km/h). But when the drivers moved from a vehicle with an instrument panel display to one with heads-up display, their confidence increased.

Bruder also examined instances where an intuitive HMI improves safety when too little information exists, such as a fatigued driver. Using a roadside, pop-up barrier, the exercise determined one-third of participants never applied braking or steering to avoid the object.

But when an avoidance system provided braking and steering inputs, most drivers avoided the barrier. Yet, when asked if they felt assistance from the vehicle, more than half claimed they performed the maneuver entirely on their own.

“Believe me, they did not,” Bruder says. “So autonomous driving, if it is done in this intuitive way, could help when the information load is low.”

Future HMIs also should make driving more pleasurable by stimulating driver enthusiasm. Bruder points to a reconfigurable instrument panel and iPhone or iPod-like features, where users draw satisfaction from performing a task that makes them feel part of a community.

Gesture-based technology could lead to the perfect HMI auto makers find so elusive, he says. The technology responds to gestures, rather than touch or speech. It's most notable application is Nintendo's Wii wireless controller for video games.

Gert-Dieter Tuzar, principal designer-HMI at Johnson Controls GmbH, suggests HMI designers consult fields such as ergonomics and industrial design as they work on next-generation HMIs, and warns researchers to reconsider how they classify primary and secondary tasks.

“From my observations, the moment a secondary task becomes important to the driver, (it) becomes the primary task,” says Tuzar. “And the primary task of driving becomes secondary.”