Human-Computer Interaction in Motor Vehicles

Paul Green
Senior Research Scientist
UM Transportation Research Institute
Human Factors Division
and faculty member IOE and ME

7:00pm
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
411 West Hall (Ehrlicher Room) directions...

If one looks at the automotive industry press, there are numerous references to telematics, the application of computers and communication technology to motor vehicles. Evidence of this is seen in navigation systems, cellular phones, and quite soon, collision warning, email, and Internet systems. There are serious concerns about the safety and usability of these systems while driving.

I lead a team of 7 people, mostly Industrial and Operations Engineering students, though we now have someone from the School of Information, concerned with research to support the design and evaluation of these systems. We conduct basic research on driver workload, study how to assess the safety and usability of these systems, and conduct some evaluations of products and product candidates. Our deliverables are reports and articles for our sponsors.

The goal of this presentation is to show how basic principles of HCI can be applied to motor vehicles, though because of the multitasking performed by drivers and the special nature of the driving task, considerable adaptation and additional knowledge is needed. My plan is to provide an overview of the tools we use (the driving simulator and instrumented vehicle), summarize our recent work, especially the use of GOMS-extensions, describe safety standards we have written, and go through the process of conducting a typical experiment.

About the Speaker

Professor Green of The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) teaches the undergraduate ergonomics laboratory and human factors in computer systems courses. At UMTRI Professor Green conducts research on human factors/ergonomics issues that pertain to driver interaction with future automotive information systems (navigation, controls and displays of all types, symbols) and human interaction with computers. Much of his research involves instrumented cars and driving simulators.
from http://ioe.engin.umich.edu/pagreen.html