Driver HMI

The Stockholm based company Neonode licenses infrared interaction technology and is moving into the automotive segment. The company now wants to further develop their technology to better suit the needs of the automotive industry and is also in need of case studies that demonstrate the benefits of using their technology to improve the interaction between driver and driver HMI.

The aims of the project were to summarize knowledge about in-car interaction and to give an example of how this knowledge can be realized by creating a demonstrator featuring the Neonode technology.Recent publications regarding human car interaction were summarized and presented along with a number of crude conceptual solutions, demonstrating some possibilities for automotive applications. In collaboration with the Neonode team, a final suggestion on a new automotive demonstrator was then developed.

The final concept features suggested solutions to several of the problems uncovered in the background study. The final concept aims to keep the driver’s eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. Different ways to provide effective feedback when using touch solutions and a safer way of textual input in the driver environment are also suggested.

The conceptual solution was empirically evaluated against a benchmark solution, the result gave a clear indication that refined versions of some of the suggested solutions, if implemented in cars in a near future, could lead to a safer and more user-friendly driving environment.