The success of design projects depends on their quality from a technical and economic point of view and on the quality of their implementation and use. This paper discusses a computer aided planning (CAP) technique and its applicability and quality in both these respects. One version of the CAP-technique is developed for planning of industrial working environments and another version for planning of residential and working environments for the physically handicapped

Vehicle automated driving systems, capable of performing all dynamic driving tasks are profoundly changing the traffic environment. With increased automation the vehicles are gradually becoming artificial agents that act and interact in conjunction with human agents, creating a pristine social context. This paper addresses the interaction between ‘pedestrian-vehicle’ and ‘driver-vehicle’. The idea is to make interaction as humanlike as possible, to increase safety and a positive user experience. We suggest that concepts describing social attunement in human-human interaction also can be applied to human-vehicle interaction. Social attunement implies a scenario where human and vehicle share intentions, infer goals of the interaction partner, are mutually predictable, and understand performance limitations. Furthermore, we propose the use of an in-vehicle avatar interface to assist in this interaction. A reason for using an avatar is that it can be hypothesised that the user can interact more naturally with an anthropomorphic artificial agent. 

In today's vehicles, the human-machine interaction (HMI) is becoming increasingly complex. The number of in-vehicle comfort functions is increasing as are the number of maneuverable buttons in the vehicle. Haptic interfaces for in-vehicle functions are now commercially available. Thus, haptic interfaces are a realistic approach to an aesthetically and ergonomically improved HMI. That is, without increasing the visual load on the driver. However, as often is the case with new technologies, some haptic interfaces might have been put into operation before being studied and evaluated sufficiently, e.g. being potentially "safety critical". The objective of this paper is to contribute in bridging the gulf between application and research concerning implementation of haptic interfaces for in-vehicle comfort functions. Two studies are reported in the paper. Firstly, a simulator study where a haptic/graphic interface is evaluated against a traditional interface with maneuverable buttons for in-vehicle comfort functions. Secondly, an experimental study that still is in the planning phase. The study aims at investigating the interaction effects between haptic and visual feedback in a haptic/graphic interface.

This paper discusses a computer-aided planning methodology and its applicability for planning of industrial production and working environments as well as for planning of residential and working environments for the differently abled. The methodology has been developed and evaluated in six case studies in mechanical industries and in six case studies related to adaptations for the differently abled.The results from the case studies indicate that computer-supported modelling and visualisation may serve as a common and efficient language facilitating communication about multifaceted environmental planning issues. The methodology is a cost-effective way of demonstrating layout ideas and testing dynamic activities like manufacturing and transportation. Corporate groups comprising people involved in, or affected by, development work seem to be a fruitful approach for cooperation, one which enhances learning and creativity. Such groups may be a proper forum for the dissemination of information, exchange of opinions, utilisation of both expert and lay experiences, and for public testing of current reality or future plans in such a way that mutual understanding between different professional categories is increased, hence promoting internal commitment.Relevance to industryThe success of design projects depends both on their quality from a technical and economic point of view, and on the quality of their implementation and use. This paper discusses a computer-aided planning technique and its applicability and quality in both these respects. The technique is developed for planning of industrial working environments and for planning of residential and working environments for the differently abled.

Pictorial visualization is expected to facilitate communication between industrial professionals when planning working environments and production systems. This hypothesis was investigated by studying how 24 participants including managers, supervisors, machine operators, and occupational health and safety officials, judged three types of computer animated visualization varying in dimensional view (scale and scope of a production line): shop floor view/survey of shop floor; production unit view/semi-survey of production unit; and workplace view/close-up of workplace, in relation to a set of planning issues. The participants participated in a controlled 2-day planning workshop, redesigning a fictitious manufacturing process by means of computer graphics, and then responded to a questionnaire. It can be concluded that shop floor view as well as production unit view are significant for survey planning issues, while all 3-dimensional views are significant for close-up planning issues. Analogously, all dimensional views are significant for technocentric planning issues, whereas only the workplace view is valuable for anthropocentric planning issues.

It is assumed that pictorial visualization can be used to facilitate communication between industrial professionals when planning working environments and production. This article analyses how managers, supervisors, machine operators, and occupational health and safety officials, accustomed to using both paper drawings and computer animation of both shop floor and workplace view, evaluate these four types of visualization in relation to a set of planning issues. Twenty-four subjects participated in a controlled two-day planning workshop. They designed a new production layout by means of computer graphics, and responded to a questionnaire. From the analysis it may be concluded that the four types of visualization are unique enough to be evaluated differently with regard to some of the planning issues. Hence, great care should be devoted to analysing what features a visualization of a production layout or a working environment aims at illustrating. Furthermore, it can be concluded that each of the four types of visualization seems to be significant for planning activities in ways that can be anticipated. Shop floor view and workplace view is valuable for planning issues related to survey of a plant and specific machines, respectively. Computer animation is in general preferable to a paper drawing concerning dynamic planning issues. Computer animation of workplace viewis valuable for planning issues related to working environment considerations. All of the four types of visualization are less significant for illustrating or describing physical factors of the working environmen

The purpose of this paper is to sketch a taxonomy describing various team leader interventions, as a consequence of interferences occurring at group meetings. The taxonomy is intended to serve as foundation for future research, methodology and test development. Sixteen Swedish business organisation leaders participated in the case study. The study consisted of ten fictitious scenarios, implying interferences concerning goal achievement. The participants were to propose interventions to the different situations. Based on the results, six categories of interventions were identified: control, inform, initiate, await, support, and explore. The categories corresponded to classical leadership theories. Furthermore, fictitious group scenarios seem to provide information about leadership thinking and interventional styles concerning team work. Scenarios also seem to measure something different than traditional assessment instruments do. This is in accordance with social personality theory, emphasising that personality assessments should not be decontextualised by excluding information concerning the situations in which people are acting.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how individual differences in glance strategy could impact the glance performance test defined in the NHTSA visual manual distraction guidelines. Better understanding of the test procedure could help development of new technology for safe driving. A custom in-vehicle information system was developed and assessed in a driving simulator by eighteen participants. The interfaces were designed according to recommendations in the NHTSA guidelines and contained manual radio-tuning tasks, sound settings tasks and six letter spelling tasks. Two of the six tested interfaces fully complied with the test. In addition, clear individual differences in glance strategy were found among the participants. Four individual glance strategies were identified. Two of these, long glancers and frequent glancers, highly affected the outcome of the compliance test. Participants belonging to the long glancers and the frequent glancers categories were identified as statistical outliers in many test cases. For example, if the individual values of these participants were replaced with sample mean, the number of complying interfaces would increase to five out of six, which is more in line with expectations for these interfaces. The results of this study show that individual variations in glance strategy exist. Also, these individual variations seem to have a non- negligible influence on the result when performance-testing of in-vehicle interfaces is done according to the NTHSA guidelines.

With the functional revolution in modern cars, evaluation methods to be used in all phases of driver-car interaction design have gained importance. It is crucial for car manufacturers to discover and solve safety issues early in the interaction design process. A current problem is thus to find a correlation between the formative methods that are used during development and the summative methods that are used when the product has reached the customer. This paper investigates the correlation between efficiency metrics from summative and formative evaluations, where the results of two studies on sound and navigation system tasks are compared. The first, an analysis of the J.D. Power and Associates APEAL survey, consists of answers given by about two thousand customers. The second, an expert evaluation study, was done by six evaluators who assessed the layouts by task completion time, TLX and Nielsen heuristics. The results show a high degree of correlation between the studies in terms of task efficiency, i.e. between customer ratings and task completion time, and customer ratings and TLX. However, no correlation was observed between Nielsen heuristics and customer ratings, task completion time or TLX. The results of the studies introduce a possibility to develop a usability evaluation framework that includes both formative and summative approaches, as the results show a high degree of consistency between the different methodologies. Hence, combining a quantitative approach with the expert evaluation method, such as task completion time, should be more useful for driver-car interaction design.

In the past ten years information and entertainment functionality has become an increasingly important part of the car interior. Infotainment functions have been growing in number and diversity, concurrently with a trend towards utilization of fewer controls and graphical displays in integrated centre panel layouts. This evolution has solved many functional and styling issues. However, as a consequence, several usability and safety concerns have been raised. A number of these concerns are related to age, a factor that is especially important in the premium car segment where a majority of drivers are older than 50 years. This study investigated perceived styling and usability of premium car centre panel layouts among different age groups. The investigation was based on APEAL customer survey data from the North American market, associated with the sound system. Questions on the appearance (styling), understanding (usability) and ease of use while driving (usability/safety) of the stereo faceplate and controls were analysed. The results showed that all age groups perceived the appearance of integrated centre panel layouts similarly. However, with rising age, there is a decrease in perceived understanding and ease of use while driving in the case of a number of premium car models.

An in-vehicle haptic rotary device developed to interact with secondary tasks can provide haptic support to a visual interface and reduce the need to look away from the road. However, added haptic information intended to support interaction may distract the driver by adding cognitive load. This study examines how visual and haptic interfaces affect driver performance and if visual–haptic information could reduce effects of driver distraction. Four menu selection interfaces were compared: visual-only, visual–haptic with partly haptic support, visual–haptic with full haptic support, and haptic-only. The Lane Change Test was used with four measures. Interaction with the interfaces while driving caused increased driving deviation and delayed lane change initiation. The visual-only and the visual–haptic interface with partly haptic support caused erroneous crossed lanes. The haptic-only interface caused missed road signs. Full haptic support had the least negative effect on driver performance. In conclusion, haptic support could reduce effects of visual load without adding effects of cognitive load.

Today, several vehicles are equipped with a visual display combined with a haptic rotary device for handling in-vehicle information system tasks while driving. This experimental study investigates whether a haptic addition to a visual interface interferes with or supports secondary task performance and whether haptic information could be used without taking eyes off road. Four interfaces were compared during simulated driving: visual only, partly corresponding visual-haptic, fully corresponding visual-haptic, and haptic only. Secondary task performance and subjective mental workload were measured. Additionally, the participants were interviewed. It was found that some haptic support improved performance. However, when more haptic information was used, the results diverged in terms of task completion time and interface comprehension. Some participants did not sense all haptics provided, some did not comprehend the correspondence between the haptic and visual interfaces, and some did. Interestingly, the participants managed to complete the tasks when using haptic-only information.

In today's vehicles the human-machine interaction (HMI) is becoming increasingly complex. Haptic interfaces are a realistic approach to improving HMI. However, to what extent haptic interfaces can replace visual interfaces still remains an unresolved issue. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to measure task completion time, error rate, and workload in an easy menu selection task for three different types of interface providing: haptic information, graphic information, or combined haptic and graphic information. The haptic interface used was a rotary device that could be turned and pushed. The results suggest that the combined haptic and graphic interface was preferable to the graphic interface regarding accuracy, i.e. fewer turn errors, while both interfaces were fundamentally equal concerning completion time. The workload results indicated that the combined haptic and graphic interface was less mentally demanding than either the graphic or the haptic interface. Solely haptic feedback produced, without exception, worse results than the other cases, as could be expected.

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to compare three different types of interfaces providing: haptic information, graphic information, or combined haptic and graphic information in an easy menu selection task. The results suggested that the combined haptic and graphic interface was preferable to the graphic interface regarding accuracy, while both interfaces were fundamentally equal concerning completion time. The results also indicated that the combined haptic and graphic interface was less mentally demanding than either the graphic or the haptic interface. Solely haptic feedback obtained, without exception, worse results than the other cases.

By introducing information and communication systems higher demands are put on the human-machine-interface in the vehicle. Concurrently the load on the driver isincreasing especially concerning visual tasks, a sensory channel that from a safety perspective should be used primarily for the demanding on-road situation. Hapticinterfaces present innovative and complementary ways for the driver to communicate with the systems in the vehicle. The objective of this study was to evaluate a hapticinterface, consisting of a haptic device and a graphic display, for in-vehicle-systems. By means of a driving simulator a usability evaluation with thirteen subjects was carried out for a haptic interface and a traditional interface. In sum, it cannot be concluded that neither a haptic interface nor a traditional interface for driver in-vehicle systems is preferable as a rule. Though, it looks as if the former should be considered when the tasks become more complex while the latter is more suitable and faster in relation to simpler tasks. Furthermore, the traditional interface appears to be advantageous from a safety point of view, based on the diversion of gaze from the road. Yet, this result is not conclusive since the haptic interface is regarded as imposing less task-load, being easier to use and understand, and mainly the first choice between the two interfaces. It might be that the haptic interface is experienced as more consistent.

This research report aimed to present a team leader intervention model regarding when unexpected events arise in meetings. Onward, the model will form a starting point for the creation and validation of a team leader interventions inventory. Sixteen managers provided the empirical material for the construction of the model. The subjects proposed as many interventions as possible based on 10 different group meeting scenarios. In total, 327 interventions were proposed, which constituted the basis for a conceptual framework comprising six categories—Control, Inform, Initiate, Investigate, Support, and Avoid. Three of the categories correspond to classical leadership behaviours: the Control category to Authoritative Leadership and Task Behaviour and structure; the Support category to Democratic Leadership and Relationship Behaviour and consideration; and the Avoid category to Laissez-Faire Leadership, letting events pass without taking leadership. In addition, the conceptual framework includes three new categories in addition to the classical leadership theory. The Inform category is related to the controlling function. When the leader clarifies goals and how to achieve the goals, it is indirectly a controlling function. The Initiate category is related to launching procedural or distracting activities. Finally, the Investigate category is an almost necessary step ahead of the other categories. Before controlling, informing, initiating, supporting, or avoiding, the leader ought to investigate the causes of the disorder and then decide which intervention is most appropriate.

Over the last years active safety has become an increasingly important factor within the automotive industry. Active safety systems, also known as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), have the function of actively assisting the driver in avoiding accidents by providing information about current and upcoming traffic situations and helping the driver take proper actions before a potential accident occurs. In this paper, differences and similarities in attitude towards three different ADAS were investigated. A set of three focus group discussions were conducted with Swedish, US American, and Chinese participants. The analysis of subjective data showed differences between the three groups regarding attitudes towards system feasibility, information presentation and need for system adjustability. Results also showed that factors such as driving conditions, infrastructure, and traffic regulations all seemed to influence the hypothesised usefulness of the different systems.

Shift-by-wire technology enables more options concerning the design, placement and functions of gear shifters compared to traditional gear shifters with manual transmission. These variations can impact usability and driver performance. There is a lack of research regarding the potential advantages and disadvantages of different types of gear shifters. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency and subjective ease-of-use of mono- and polystable joystick gear shifter types at different complexity levels and with full or limited visibility. An experimental study with 36 participants was conducted. The results showed that monostable joysticks, especially those with an I/J-shape, were overall less efficient and easy to use than polystable joysticks. The highest complexity level clearly affected the efficiency for the monostable joystick with an I/J-shape (mono I/J) compared with the other gear shifter types. The monostable joystick with an I/J-shape (mono I/J) was also most affected by reduced visibility at the highest level of complexity, indicating that it was more prone to causing users to take their eyes off the road.

Shift-by-wire gear shifters are increasing the opportunities for individualization of functions and design. Though, greater variations can make gear shifters inefficient and error prone. Research regarding these aspects is still lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate how different gear shifter concepts were perceived in terms of Perceived Ease-of-Use and Task success, depending on their level of complexity, the shape of the shifter and stability of the shifter pattern. An experimental study was conducted with participants using six types of gear shifters on three levels of complexity. Results showed that the Monostable joystick received the lowest Perceived Ease-of-Use scores. Furthermore, the Rotary Toggle shifter with monostable function, had lowest Task success, which was supposed to be a result of e.g. unfamiliar design.

Cross-modal interfaces display information equally across modalities. These interfaces can be beneficial when visual input and output capabilities are limited, for example in a car. The objective of this study was to test how well interface information is transferred across the visual and haptic modalities. In the experiment there were three feedback conditions: haptic, visual and haptic plus visual. The experiment consisted of a training session and a test session. First, the 54 participants trained on the experimental task in one feedback condition, and then they carried out a test by means of the same or a different feedback condition. The experimental task was to locate and select a texture in a menu of four textures haptically displayed through a rotary device and visually displayed on a computer monitor. The results showed no significant performance differences in the haptic, visual or haptic plus visual tests when training was haptic. When training was unimodal visual or bimodal haptic and visual a significant weaker performance was found in the haptic test. Here a dominance of vision over touch could be observed; even if haptic information was provided during bimodal training, the visual information seemed to dominate and the participants performed no better on the haptic test than when unimodal visual information had been provided during training.

Car Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) is becoming increasingly complex as the extension of functionality necessitates new interface concepts. Various multifunctional systems operated by haptic rotary switches, touch screen, and voice control have been developed. A usability study of multifunctional systems available on the market was carried out to evaluate and compare different manual interaction principles. The systems used in the study were the BMW iDrive and the Audi MMI, both operated by a rotary switch, and the Jaguar touch screen interface. Firstly, a usability test was conducted where two naive and two trained participants tested each system during driving. Ten tasks, comprising CD, radio and navigation were solved by the participants. Secondly, six evaluators carried out a usability inspection, heuristic evaluation, to find possible problems in the systems. The results from the usability test indicated that the naive users interacted more rapidly with the touch screen interface. Trained users, on the other hand, had more even results over the systems. The problems found in the usability inspection gave explanations to some of the longer task times in the usability test.

A driving simulator study was conducted to investigate the effects of carrying out a variety of tasks using two different types of contemporary in-car multifunctional interfaces: a touch screen interface and an interface manoeuvred by a rotary control. Participants drove on a curved rural road while performing tasks such as list scrolling, radio tuning, alphanumeric input and continuous adjustments. The results indicate that, in terms of task completion time and the number of glances made to the display, the optimal interface is dependent on the task being performed. The touch screen interface was better for alphanumeric input tasks and the interface manoeuvred by a rotary control was better for continuous adjustments and list scrolling. Alphanumeric input seems to be more demanding than other tasks, independent of the interface used. It was apparent in this simulator study that both interfaces affected the lateral control performance, but lateral control performance deteriorated to a greater extent when the touch screen interface was used, probably partially as a result of the lower display position.

A driving simulator study was conducted to investigate whether the interaction with an in-vehicle multifunctional interface maneuvered by a rotary control can be improved if assisting haptics is provided. Two conditions were compared in the study, one in which neutral haptics was provided through the rotary control and one in which enhanced haptics was provided. Participants drove on a curved rural road while performing tasks such as list scrolling, radio tuning and text entry. The results indicated that, for radio tuning and settings adjustments tasks, interaction is improved when enhanced haptics is provided. It was shown that enhanced haptics can increase performance in terms of task completion time and can reduce the number and duration of glances made to the display. However, for alphanumeric input tasks, improvements are needed. Enhanced haptics seems to facilitate interaction with functions in which the sensations can be incorporated in an intuitive way.

There has been an increasing interest for in-vehicle interfaces that make use of haptic information. A simulator study was conducted to investigate whether haptic information can facilitate the interaction with an interface while driving. The conceptual in-car interface consisted of a visual menu of four textures displayed on a screen and corresponding haptic information displayed through the interaction device - a rotary device. The experimental conditions included either visual or haptic or both visual and haptic information. One advantage of the condition including only haptic information was that the participants' eyes remained on the road during the interaction. However, since the haptic interaction necessitated serial processing, the experimental task took longer when using only haptic information. Therefore the participants seem to have relied more on the visual information when it was available. The degradation in driving performance and mental workload assessment did not differ between the conditions.