David Wilfinger

Capture the car!: qualitative in-situ methods to grasp the automotive context

In terms of human computer interaction (HCI), the car interior is a space, which can be divided into three areas: the drivers area, the front seat area, and the back seat area. So far HCI researchers have primary focused on the driver, and how in-car electronic devices can be designed to assist the driver in order to increase safety and comfort. We propose that for investigating interactive technology in the car in a holistic way, all three areas have to be taken into account. For that purpose we argue for an increased usage of qualitative in-situ studies, which have been hardly applied in automotive user interface research. So far the HCI community has mainly focused on laboratory studies utilizing driving simulators. Despite the broad range of available field study methods, such as ethnographic and self-reporting studies, the adaption of these methods for the automotive context is challenging due to the specific characteristics of this environment. For instance, cars provide only very limited space, the environment is constantly changing while driving and the driver must not be distracted from driving safely. As a consequence, a lack of experience exists, on how in-situ methods should be applied to cars. In this paper we describe three qualitative in-situ studies, we conducted to research the driver, the front seat passenger, and the rear seat passenger spaces. All three studies used a different method tailored to fit these three areas best. To share our experiences and insights we discuss the strengths and pitfalls of each method.

Come drive with me: an ethnographic study of driver-passenger pairs to inform future in-car assistance

There is today a large number of ADAS used while driving. These systems are mainly technology driven and most often fail to make use of the social nature and the collaborative mechanisms between driver-passenger pairs. To inform the development of future automotive user interface designs we need to develop a deeper understanding of collaboration in general. In addition, we need to develop an understanding of how, and in what way, other platforms (e.g., the mobile phones) are and will be used in combination with these systems while driving. This paper presents the results of a participative ethnographic study with nine driver-passenger pairs recruited from two online car-sharing portals. Results are categorized in three areas: common ground as a base for successful in-car communication, types and strategies of front-seat passenger assistance, and lastly the impact of technology on collaboration.

Are we there yet? a probing study to inform design for the rear seat of family cars

When researching interactive systems in the car, the design space can be divided into the following areas: driver, front seat passenger and rear seat. The latter has so far not been sufficiently addressed in HCI research, which results in an absence of implications for interaction designs in that space. This work presents a cultural probing study investigating the activities and the technology usage in the rear seat as social and physical space. The study was conducted with 20 families over a period of four weeks and unveiled aspects relevant for HCI research: aspects of diversion, educational motivation, togetherness, food as activity, physical space, perception of safety, and mobile computing. In relation to these areas, implications for the design and integration of interactive technology in the rear seat area are deduced. We show that cultural probing in the car is a promising and fruitful approach to get insights on passenger behavior and requirements for interactive systems. To improve the rear seat area and to show the potential of probing results to inform design, a design proposal for an interactive rear seat game called RiddleRide is introduced.

Gaming to sit safe: the restricted body as an integral part of gameplay

This paper presents a design exploration of full-body interaction games played in cars. It describes how we have designed, implemented, and evaluated the core experiences of three different games, which were all aimed at making sitting properly more fun for players/children while travelling by car. By making the restricted body an integral part of gameplay, we hope to, as a side product of gameplay, bring about the best and also most safe body posture for young players/children travelling by car, i.e., sitting reasonably upright and still in their child seat with their head leaning back on the neck rest. Another outcome of this could also be an overall safer situation in the car, in that children not sitting still in their child seats while being driven might be stressful for the driver. By presenting the details of our design efforts in this particular design context, we hope to add also to the knowledge we, in HCI, have for how to design bodily experiences with technology at large.

Exploring the back of the steering wheel: text input with hands on the wheel and eyes on the road

Safe interaction with interactive systems in the car requires both hands to be placed on the steering wheel and eyes to be kept on the road. To allow safe text input in the vehicle, we propose the back of the steering wheel as space for interactive text input elements. In the effort to explore this space, we present two design alternatives for text input elements; one has two sliding sensors and the other has three buttons on each side of the wheel. In combination with a head up display and an adapted keyboard layout, these elements allow text input while driving with the eyes on the road an the hands on the wheel. In a first study with end users, we show the potential of the proposed text input approach for future vehicles.

Evaluating and investigating an iTV interaction concept in the field

This work presents results from an evaluation in the field using a prototype iTV system. Besides standard iTV services (e.g. EPG), this iTV system offers a number of privacy and personalization functions combined with a fingerprint reader in the remote control. The goal was to research how the iTV system would perform in terms of user experience and usability in the field and how users perceive security and personalization functions in the original context of use. Main findings the study showed unexpected perceptions concerning privacy and security issues by users in the field and confirmed good results on usability and user experience gained in prior laboratory studies.

An Ethnographic Study on Recommendations in the Living Room: Implications for the Design of iTV Recommender Systems

Today recommendations are used to improve the quality and the number of interactive TV services offered by providers all over the world. Their main goal is to recommend TV shows and TV events, sometimes combined with an automatic recording function. With the growing number of IPTV offers, the usage of recommendation systems will increase and help to personalize and individualize the TV viewing experience. This article studies recommendations for the home context investigating daily living habits and routines in 40 households in depth using playful and creative cultural probing. Study results are present design recommendations for the development of new forms of recommendation systems. Main results find that users prefer individualized recommendations in-time, either automated or user-oriented, but mostly prefer individualized recommendations for each member of a household rather than personalized for the whole household.

Shared Gaze in the Car: Towards a Better Driver-Passenger Collaboration

Many automotive tasks can potentially be seen as a collaborative activity between driver and front seat passenger. Nevertheless, the position of both passengers sitting in the front seat hinders a natural face to face communication. An assisting co-driver can thus lead to more distraction and misunderstanding because pointing out things becomes diffficult. We want to add a natural way of communication and present a prototype that captures the co-drivers gaze and visualizes it for the driver. With this setup we try to create a possibility for passengers to collaborate and share information e.g., during navigational tasks or to provide hints about upcoming hazards. We developed a prototype in a car simulator to explore the concept in a first explorative study setup. In this paper we describe our concept of using shared gaze in the car, the technical setup of the prototype as well as possible application scenarios and future studies.

Dad, Stop Crashing My Car!: Making Use of Probing to Inspire the Design of Future In-Car Interfaces

In order to envision novel in-car user interfaces, it is important to investigate driver and passenger behavior as well as to identify relevant context factors that influence this behavior. Automotive user interfaces are often concentrated on drivers and their needs, whereas passengers and their needs are paid little attention to. In this paper we report on a probing study, which aimed at revealing novel design ideas for interfaces for both, car drivers and passengers. The overall goal of the study was to get inspired by actual driver and passenger behavior. In particular, we investigated past behaviors and what we can learn from these episodes for automotive interface design. We illustrate the user-centered process of generating innovative design concepts for the automotive domain based on the results of the probing study. Additionally, we introduce three resulting design concepts by means of design sketches and textual descriptions to provide insights on the concrete results of our efforts. We discuss probing as a method to generate novel design ideas for the automotive UI community and reflect on the three emerged design concepts which focus on collaboration, behavior change, and entertainment in the car.

Eye Tracking in the Car: Challenges in a Dual-Task Scenario on a Test Track

In our research, we aim at developing and enhancing an approach that allows us to capture visual, cognitive, and manual distraction of the driver while operating an In-Vehicle Infotainment System (IVIS) under most preferable real conditions. Based on our experiences in three consecutive studies conducted on a test track, we want to point out and discuss issues and challenges we had to face when applying eye tracking in this context. These challenges include how to choose the right system, integrate it into the vehicle, set it up for each participant, and gather data on in-car tasks with an acceptable workload for the researcher. The contribution of this paper is to raise awareness for eye tracking issues in the automotive UI community and to provide lessons learned for AUI researchers when applying eye tracking methods in comparable setups.