A Set of Design Principles for Personalized Information in Automated Driving User Interfaces Based on Theory and Empirical Evidence

In automated driving (AD), high technology and individual users connect. They do so via user interfaces (UI). Since every human differs significantly in preferences and requirements towards UIs and the information shown, we now face the challenge to meet these individual requirements to enhance the customer experience in AD. We showed in two driving simulator studies that differences in information preferences for the UI are connected to differences in user characteristics. Based on this, we now create a set of design principles (DP) including its mathematical modeling that helps to translate user characteristics into personalized interface configurations. As user characteristics, we incorporate experience with AD, driving frequency, sight impairs, and attitude towards technology. For information, we chose surrounding traffic, surrounding infrastructure, and potential limits of the AD system. We hope that the DPs contribute to theoretical knowledge and future vehicle development processes fostering users’ feelings of safety, comfort, and satisfaction.

I. Introduction

The feeling of autonomy is one of the most important factors of human well-being [1]. The automotive industry contributes to fulfilling this need since the first motorized vehicles until today’s modern cars. In this evolution, Automated Driving (AD) is one of the ground-breaking developments currently being pushed. Despite the revolutionary new experience for users, delegating the driving task to the vehicle, the development to get there is an evolutionary one [2]. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) describes the levels of autonomy as follows [3]: for up to level two, the entire driving responsibility is with the user, nevertheless, the system supports accelerating/breaking and/or steering. For level three the responsibility transfers temporarily to the vehicle until it requests a take-over from the driver. We focus on this level for two reasons: the timewise shared responsibility makes the user interface (UI) most critical in this level and it is the level currently starting to be available in privately owned cars on the market [4]. Those are the cars we focus on, not automated vehicles deployed in mobility services where you order single trips. Level four vehicles do not require take-overs anymore in a certain operational design domain (ODD), meaning a certain area in a city for instance. Level five describes the theoretical complete autonomy in all situations and environments.