abstract: Despite the various driver assistance systems and electronics, the threat to life of driver, passengers and other people on the road still persists. With the growth in technology, the use of in-vehicle devices with a plethora of buttons and features is increasing resulting in increased distraction. Recently, speech recognition has emerged as an alternative to distraction and has the potential to be beneficial. However, considering the fact that automotive environment is dynamic and noisy in nature, distraction may not arise from the manual interaction, but due to the cognitive load. Hence, speech recognition certainly cannot be a reliable mode of communication. The thesis is focused on proposing a simultaneous multimodal approach for designing interface between driver and vehicle with a goal to enable the driver to be more attentive to the driving tasks and spend less time fiddling with distractive tasks. By analyzing the human-human multimodal interaction techniques, new modes have been identified and experimented, especially suitable for the automotive context. The identified modes are touch, speech, graphics, voice-tip and text-tip. The multiple modes are intended to work collectively to make the interaction more intuitive and natural. In order to obtain a minimalist user-centered design for the center stack, various design principles such as 80/20 rule, contour bias, affordance, flexibility-usability trade-off etc. have been implemented on the prototypes. The prototype was developed using the Dragon software development kit on android platform for speech recognition. In the present study, the driver behavior was investigated in an experiment conducted on the DriveSafety driving simulator DS-600s. Twelve volunteers drove the simulator under two conditions: (1) accessing the center stack applications using touch only and (2) accessing the applications using speech with offered text-tip. The duration for which user looked away from the road (eyes-off-road) was measured manually for each scenario. Comparison of results proved that eyes-off-road time is less for the second scenario. The minimalist design with 8-10 icons per screen proved to be effective as all the readings were within the driver distraction recommendations (eyes-off-road time < 2sec per screen) defined by NHTSA. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

abstract: Driver distraction research has a long history spanning nearly 50 years, intensifying in the last decade. The focus has always been on identifying the distractive tasks and measuring the respective harm level. As in-vehicle technology advances, the list of distractive activities grows along with crash risk. Additionally, the distractive activities become more common and complicated, especially with regard to In-Car Interactive System. This work's main focus is on driver distraction caused by the in-car interactive System. There have been many User Interaction Designs (Buttons, Speech, Visual) for Human-Car communication, in the past and currently present. And, all related studies suggest that driver distraction level is still high and there is a need for a better design. Multimodal Interaction is a design approach, which relies on using multiple modes for humans to interact with the car & hence reducing driver distraction by allowing the driver to choose the most suitable mode with minimum distraction. Additionally, combining multiple modes simultaneously provides more natural interaction, which could lead to less distraction. The main goal of MMI is to enable the driver to be more attentive to driving tasks and spend less time fiddling with distractive tasks. Engineering based method is used to measure driver distraction. This method uses metrics like Reaction time, Acceleration, Lane Departure obtained from test cases. / Dissertation/Thesis / presentation / REACTION TIMES / DRIVING DATA RESULTS / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

abstract: Driving is already a complex task that demands a varying level of cognitive and physical load. With the advancement in technology, the car has become a place for media consumption, a communications center and an interconnected workplace. The number of features in a car has also increased. As a result, the user interaction inside the car has become overcrowded and more complex. This has increased the amount of distraction while driving and has also increased the number of accidents due to distracted driving. This thesis focuses on the critical analysis of today’s in-car environment covering two main aspects, Multi Modal Interaction (MMI), and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), to minimize the distraction. It also provides deep market research on future trends in the smart car technology. After careful analysis, it was observed that an infotainment screen cluttered with lots of small icons, a center stack with a plethora of small buttons and a poor Voice Recognition (VR) results in high cognitive load, and these are the reasons for the increased driver distraction. Though the VR has become a standard technology, the current state of technology is focused on features oriented design and a sales driven approach. Most of the automotive manufacturers are focusing on making the VR better but attaining perfection in VR is not the answer as there are inherent challenges and limitations in respect to the in-car environment and cognitive load. Accordingly, the research proposed a novel in-car interaction design solution: Multi-Modal Interaction (MMI). The MMI is a new term when used in the context of vehicles, but it is widely used in human-human interaction. The approach offers a non-intrusive alternative to the driver to interact with the features in the car. With the focus on user-centered design, the MMI and ADAS can potentially help to reduce the distraction. To support the discussion, an experiment was conducted to benchmark a minimalist UI design. An engineering based method was used to test and measure distraction of four different UIs with varying numbers of icons and screen sizes. Lastly, in order to compete with the market, the basic features that are provided by all the other competitors cannot be eliminated, but the hard work can be done to improve the HCaI and to make driving safer. / Dissertation/Thesis / Date collected about reaction time in the experiment_Excel / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

The importance of perceived quality within the automotive industry has been rapidly increasing these years. Since judgmentsconcerning perceived quality is a highly subjective process, eye-tracking technology is one of the best approaches to extractcustomers’ subconscious visual activity during interaction with the product. This thesis aims to find an appropriate solution forrepresenting 3D eye-tracking data for further improvements in the validity and verification efficiency of perceived qualityanalysis, attempting to answer the question:How can eye-tracking data be presented and integrated into 3D automobile design workflow as a material that allows designersto understand their customers better?In the study, a prototype system was built for car-interior inspection in the virtual reality (VR) showroom through an explorativeresearch process including investigations in the acquisition of gaze data in VR, classification of eye movement from thecollected gaze data, and the visualizations for the classified eye movements. The prototype system was then evaluated throughcomparisons between algorithms and feedbacks from the engineers who participated in the pilot study.As a result, a method combining I-VT (identification with velocity threshold) and DBSCAN (density-based spatial clusteringof application with noise) was implemented as the optimum algorithm for eye movement classification. A modified heat map,a cluster plot, a convex hull plot, together with textual information, were used to construct the complete visualization of theeye-tracking data. The prototype system has enabled car designers and engineers to examine both the customers’ and their ownvisual behavior in the 3D virtual showroom during a car inspection, followed by the extraction and visualization of the collectedgaze data. This paper presents the research process, including the introduction to relevant theory, the implementation of theprototype system, and its results. Eventually, strengths and weaknesses, as well as the future work in both the prototype solutionitself and potential experimental use cases, are discussed. / Betydelsen av upplevd kvalitet inom bilindustrin har ökat kraftigt dessa år. Eftersom uppfattningar om upplevd kvalitet är en mycket subjektivt är ögonspårningsteknik en av de bästa metoderna för att extrahera kundernas undermedvetna visuella aktivitet under interaktion med produkten. Denna avhandling syftar till att hitta en lämplig lösning för att representera 3Dögonspårningsdata för ytterligare förbättringar av validitets- och verifieringseffektiviteten hos upplevd kvalitetsanalys, och försöker svara på frågan: Hur kan ögonspårningsdata presenteras och integreras i 3D-arbetsflödet för bildesign som ett material som gör det möjligt för designers att bättre förstå sina kunder? I studien byggdes ett prototypsystem för bilinteriörinspektion i showroomet för virtuell verklighet (VR) genom en explorativ forskningsprocess inklusive undersökningar i förvärv av blickdata i VR, klassificering av ögonrörelse från insamlad blicksdata och visualiseringar för de klassificerade ögonrörelserna. Prototypsystemet utvärderades sedan genom jämförelser mellan algoritmer och återkopplingar från ingenjörerna som deltog i pilotstudien. Följaktligen implementerades en metod som kombinerar I-VT (identifiering med hastighetströskel) och DBSCAN (densitetsbaserad spatial gruppering av applikation med brus) som den optimala algoritmen för ögonrörelseklassificering. En modifierad värmekarta, ett klusterdiagram, en konvex skrovdiagram, tillsammans med textinformation, användes för att konstruera den fullständiga visualiseringen av ögonspårningsdata. Prototypsystemet har gjort det möjligt för bilkonstruktörer och ingenjörer att undersöka både kundernas och deras visuella beteende i det virtuella 3D-utställningsrummet under en bilinspektion, följt av utvinning och visualisering av den insamlade blicken. Denna uppsats presenterar forskningsprocessen, inklusive introduktion till relevant teori, implementeringen av prototypsystemet och dess resultat. Så småningom diskuteras styrkor och svagheter, liksom det framtida arbetet i både prototyplösningen och potentiella experimentella användningsfall.