Search for: All records

Autonomous vehicles are expected to improve road safety and efficiency in future transportation systems. A driving simulator study was designed to identify driving styles and the cooperation between human drivers and other AVs. The study captured driver’s following behavior in a fully autonomous driving environment at unsignalized intersections. Participants were asked to make a series of maneuvers (straight through intersection, left turn, and right turn) in two different speed conditions (30, 40 mph) and two different traffic density conditions (with or without other traffic). Analysis of Variance showed that drivers had a significantly larger deviation (defined as the area between two trajectories) during left turn maneuvers when they were traveling at higher speeds. Moreover, the first turning operation had smaller deviation than the second turning operation. The findings have implications for the design of driver-assistance guidance systems in future mixed autonomous and non-autonomous traffic flows. 

How can technology support workers in our rapidly changing world? How can we help them be productive and creating, and how can we support their overall wellbeing? Our team explores these broad questions for two specific areas: working in future automated vehicles, and working from home. We argue that making progress in these areas will require convergent research – the type of research in which experts from multiple backgrounds create new languages of expression and new approaches that integrate disciplines. In this document we present our own steps towards such a convergent research approach to the future of work and play. 

What is the future of work and wellbeing? How did the COVID-19 crisis affect this future? What can, and what should, researchers and practitioners in the field of human-computer interaction do, as they develop interfaces for work and wellbeing? These are the questions that we explore in a weekly online series of conversations with HCI experts. In this paper we share some of the insights from our first nine conversations of the series. 

With increasing automation of the driving task, cars’ cock- pits are transforming towards living spaces rather than pure modalities of transport. The promise of automated vehicles being individual places for relaxation and productivity while on-the-go, however, requires significant research. Not only safety-critical questions, but also issues related to ergonomic design, human factors for interactive systems, and social aspects have to be investigated. This special interests group presents an opportunity for connecting var- ious CHI communities on these problems, which need to be solved under time-pressure, because automated vehi- cles are coming – whether or not the HCI-related issues are solved. 

This video shows a concept of a future mobile office in a semi-automated vehicle that uses augmented reality. People perform non-driving tasks in current, non-automated vehicles even though that is unsafe. Moreover, even for passengers there is limited space, it is not social, and there can be motion sickness. In future cars, technology such as augmented reality might alleviate some of these issues. Our concept shows how augmented reality can project a remote conversant onto the dashboard. Thereby, the driver can keep an occasional eye on the road while the automated vehicle drives, and might experience less motion sickness. Potentially, this concept might even be used for group calls or for group activities such as karaoke, thereby creating a social setting. We also demonstrate how integration with an intelligent assistant (through speech and gesture analysis) might save the driver from having to grab a calendar to write things down, again allowing them to focus on the road.