In-car communication systems (ICCS) are becoming more frequently used by drivers. ICCS are used in order to minimise the driving distraction due to using a mobile phone while driving. Several usability studies of ICCS utilising speech user interfaces (SUIs) have identified usability issues that can affect the workload, performance, satisfaction and user experience of the driver. This is due to current speech technologies which can be a source of errors that may frustrate the driver and negatively affect the user experience. The aim of this research was to design a new multimodal interface that will manage the interaction between an ICCS and the driver. Unlike the current ICCS, it should make more voice input available, so as to support tasks (e.g. sending text messages; browsing the phone book, etc), which still require a cognitive workload from the driver. An adaptive multimodal interface was proposed in order to address current ICCS issues. The multimodal interface used both speech and manual input; however only the speech channel is used as output. This was done in order to minimise the visual distraction that graphical user interfaces or haptics devices can cause with current ICCS. The adaptive interface was designed to minimise the cognitive distraction of the driver. The adaptive interface ensures that whenever the distraction level of the driver is high, any information communication is postponed. After the design and the implementation of the first version of the prototype interface, called MIMI, a usability evaluation was conducted in order to identify any possible usability issues. Although voice dialling was found to be problematic, the results were encouraging in terms of performance, workload and user satisfaction. The suggestions received from the participants to improve the system usability were incorporated in the next implementation of MIMI. The adaptive module was then implemented to reduce driver distraction based on the driver‟s current context. The proposed architecture showed encouraging results in terms of usability and safety. The adaptive behaviour of MIMI significantly contributed to the reduction of cognitive distraction, because drivers received less information during difficult driving situations.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Computer and Information Science

<p>Cell Broadcast is a relatively old technique within the GSM-network which makes it possible to broadcast text messages to one or more cells in the network. As efforts in Sweden have been made to develop both traffic safety and information technology, the automotive telematics market is predicted to grow rapidly in the near future. The characteristics of Cell Broadcast make it especially suitable for automotive telematics services. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate possible automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast and how these services can affect traffic safety. </p><p>The most important characteristics for Cell Broadcast in the automotive telematics market are close connection to the GSM/UMTS network, location-based information and information of push character. These characteristics allows the mobile operator to offer a number of automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast, some of them as service provider and some of them in joint ventures with car and mobile terminal manufacturers.</p>

Cell Broadcast is a relatively old technique within the GSM-network which makes it possible to broadcast text messages to one or more cells in the network. As efforts in Sweden have been made to develop both traffic safety and information technology, the automotive telematics market is predicted to grow rapidly in the near future. The characteristics of Cell Broadcast make it especially suitable for automotive telematics services. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate possible automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast and how these services can affect traffic safety. The most important characteristics for Cell Broadcast in the automotive telematics market are close connection to the GSM/UMTS network, location-based information and information of push character. These characteristics allows the mobile operator to offer a number of automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast, some of them as service provider and some of them in joint ventures with car and mobile terminal manufacturers.