Dis­trac­tion due to vehicle ope­ra­tion

Functions of vehicle operation, such as windscreen wiper settings, are increasingly being implemented digitally and operated via touch displays. They integrate many functions. However their operation distracts from the driving task. In a study, the UDV therefore investigated how in-vehicle HMI should be designed to be as least distractive as possible.

Based on research of existing design guidelines for HMI as well as interviews with experts, a checklist was developed with which HMI in the vehicle can be evaluated regarding their potential for distraction.

Result: Checklist

The checklist:

• integrates existing design recommendations, especially Visual-manual Driver Distraction Guidelines for In-Vehicle Electronic Devices (NHTSA), with focus on visual-manual distraction.
• evaluates hardware and function separately and thus also covers multifunctional touch displays
• takes into account the importance of the function for the driving task: the more important the function, the stricter the requirements.
• is easy to use by experts in the field of human-machine design.