The key to better ADAS: Make it simple and pleasurable

The broader acceptance of increasingly autonomous advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) requires an understanding of human psychology and the early inclusion of human-centered design strategies.

That was the one of the key takeaways from a recent TechTalk hosted by Continental that focused on the psychology of mobility.

The key to success, according to the expert panelists, is creating a positive user experience, and to do this the technology has to be simple to use and deliver joy or pleasure.

The second item -- the hedonistic quality of the experience -- is often overlooked, the experts said. Creating joy is difficult to achieve given that the drive assistance solutions available today require the driver pay attention in ways that make the deployment of these systems less attractive.

For instance, some lane keeping assist features may even push back against the driver's attempt to change lanes if the indicator is not used.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does not always use the turn indicator when changing the lane, and that means every time I drive, the system will push against me. That is, of course, not a good thing," said Christoph Bernhard, senior user experience researcher at German startup Custom Interactions. "But these are the requirements the system sets on the user. And what happens with those requirements? Well, the user simply turns off the system and they don't use it anymore."

Novelty & attractiveness

Bernhard said that novelty, attractiveness and stimulation are important to provide a more positive user experience.

Novelty describes the extent to which the user perceives the product as innovative or creative, while attractiveness describes the user's overall impression of how much they like the product and stimulation describes whether the user perceives the product is exciting and motivating to use.

"If a product has a good pragmatic quality and also fulfills these characteristics, then it will bring a great mobility experience and then it will also be used by drivers," Bernhard said.

He pointed out that driving is a highly cognitive activity where large volumes of information must be quickly -- and continuously processed, but the connection to a positive emotional experience must also be factored in.

"Psychology helps to support users in their processing, their perception to the act of driving, and provides the methods and the tools to analyze and understand user needs, wishes and demands," Bernhard said.

He called for a user-centered design approach whereby end users can contribute early to the development process.

"New innovations will not succeed if they don't have a positive user experience," he cautions. "Psychology helps us understand those needs and demands."

User experience factors

Guido Meier-Arendt, principal expert on HMI and design at Continental, said that communication and entertainment needs have become very important as secondary tasks become more primary tasks as highly automated vehicles hit the market.

"It's not the brain which drives the car, it's the human being with his experiences," he said. "This means the user experience is impacted by the perceptions, beliefs, emotions, preferences and behavior of a user and these must all be addressed."

This requires an understanding of how ADAS features like a head-up display (HUD) can help. For instance, at a crowded or complicated intersection the HUD can offer both pragmatic (providing practical assistance) and emotional (reducing anger or stress levels) support to the driver.

"Understanding the end user is really key, but it is sometimes quite difficult," Meier-Arendt noted. "It's really important to ask the right questions to apply a suitable method to figure out what are the person’s real needs."

When it comes to building trust in ADAS features, transparency and multi-modal approaches that include auditory, visual and tactile (haptic) cues for current or planned maneuvers are important.

"A guiding principle for us is to understand the end user psychologically, and as a result the HMI communicates with the end user to perfectly fit expectations," he said.

Different levels of trust

Sebastian Weiss, human factors researcher and psychologist for Continental, said the deployment of research and focus groups can help create products with high acceptance and comfort rates.

This requires a careful calibration of trust in technology to avoid overconfidence in imperfect technologies or distrust in these same systems.

He noted that many factors -- age, personality, cultural background, prior knowledge, environment, time of day, ease of use and transparency to name a few -- impact the level of trust in systems.

"Your trust is calibrated with the actual maturity and capabilities of the system, and this way you can enjoy your drive," he said. "If you distrust the system, you may be skeptical and intervene and stop the automation or turn off the automated driving functions."

Despite the challenges of unravelling all the different factors and dimensions of trust, it is absolutely crucial to develop autonomous features in a way that considers all of them through a user-centered design and development process, which can include the use of virtual reality.

"Only through trust will you accept and use the technology and that is why the user must always be the center of the development focus," Weiss said. "It's all about trust."

Jochen Moeller, senior expert of UX and interaction design at Continental, wrapped up the presentation with a focus on the possibilities for user experiences guided by head-up displays, haptic feedback and conceptual designs that could lead to new breakthroughs.

One concept centered around an onyx, diamond-shaped instrument cluster that offers users a unique, minimalistic interactive experience.

"It's all about knowing the user, and this is getting more and more difficult in the last 60 years because of the additional functions that are required and desired in the vehicle," he said. "That means we have a lot more to do in designing the experience."