Smartphone on Wheels — A Brief compilation of UX in Cars
When I was exploring this unchartered area of automobiles and user experience, I realized something. UX is already everywhere. We are so accustomed to developing UX for mobiles and desktops that the tiny dashboard on the car seems like a complicated topic.
The vehicle infotainment system has evolved from knobs and buttons to tiny touch screens with buttons to a full-size touch screen (in high-end cars). But of course, an infotainment system is just one aspect of the car experience. So what are the challenges that the manufacturers face when designing a top-notch experience? What makes a car a smartphone on wheels?
The automotive industry has strict standards and principles for every development (hardware and software) before deploying the vehicle to the users. But the infotainment system (I will use this as a collective term for car system for this article purpose) has certain slack when it comes to this. There is no defined standard for an interactive system within a vehicle. Hence, this is considered a pitching point by many car manufacturers for competition.
Different interactive systems in cars bring certain creative freedom. But it is also true that every new feature requires rigorous testing. What is the disadvantage here? As there is no defined standard when adding a new feature, we are less likely to find any issues reported from previous tests conducted from other systems to avoid reusing them. Cars are a valuable commodity but equally dangerous without safety guidelines.
Nevertheless, the industry is fast improving in this aspect. Human factors are being refocused with the advancement of technology, like autonomous driving, electrification, vehicle connectivity, etc. For instance, what does comfort mean for a person in a self-driving car? First, it’s the absence of driving stress. Second, it’s a high-end infotainment system that makes riding more pleasant. Finally, it’s a personalized user experience that makes the difference.
For autonomous vehicles to effectively communicate with the driver (considering both feature and safety), there must be an established human-machine interface (HMI). Before achieving complete autonomy, cars should learn how to communicate their intentions to humans and do so in the most comprehensive way. Furthermore, as the system evolves, drivers and commuters, in turn, become more demanding. Therefore, cars should not only understand, inform, and ensure passenger safety but also entertain passengers. That is, the user experience must be given the number one priority to make this technology successful.
With different car-makers following unique designs to communicate with the passengers, consistent human-machine interface system design is critical to provide usability in future vehicles.
Let’s dive into some important human-machine interfaces that almost make a car similar to a smartphone!
1. Touch screens:
Touch screens have become a significant part of any technological innovation. From tiny screens in the 90s to full-screen devices in recent times, even a car’s infotainment system has changed with time. But designing user experiences for a car can not be considered the same way as we do for phones. It is a controversial topic with many concerns shed upon the design aspects. Most carmakers are also getting serious about OTA updates, which will allow more variations and iterations on the interface design to weed out usability issues. And with the increased importance of touch interfaces, design teams in car companies are growing and gaining more experience.
2. Voice controls:
Honda, in collaboration with IBM, was one of the first automobiles to enable a voice navigation system that comprised voice command-and-control capabilities. We have already seen successful voice assistants in our smartphones. Research suggests that by 2022, 73% of drivers will use in-car voice assistants. With in-car applications on the rise in the market, we will experience the next-level audio, navigation, and safety systems.
3. Gesture controls:
Gesture recognition is a technology that uses sensors to read and interpret hand movements as commands. In the automotive industry, this capability allows drivers and passengers to interact with the vehicle, usually to control the infotainment system without touching any buttons or screens. For example, drivers can adjust volumes and airflow, wave away calls on connected phones, or change a music playlist with a flick of the wrist and more. Gesture control can minimize the use of touchscreens, making them less distractive, and complement with voice-control features. This technology is currently available only in luxury cars due to their high complexity and cost. The benefits of this technology are yet to broaden adoption across mid-and low-end automobiles.
Usability standards in cars is a critical topic that deserves extensive research and redesign of the existing system model as new technology is introduced. This does require a lot of relearning from a driver’s perspective as well. Nevertheless, the end goal is to transform cars into powerful mobile computing stations and make them simple to drive and manage.
This article has been inspired by various sources. Some of them are listed below for your in-depth reading:
UX heuristics for the automotive industry — https://uxdesign.cc/11-heuristics-for-ux-in-automotive-ac6ab9a8783c
The Rise of Touch Screens in Cars Explained — https://www.theturnsignalblog.com/blog/touch-screens/
What’s Really Important about Designing Human Machine Interfaces for Autonomous Vehicles? — https://intellias.com/what-s-really-important-about-designing-human-machine-interfaces-for-autonomous-vehicles/
The Evolution Of In-Car Voice Control — https://www.kardome.com/blog-posts/evolution-car-voice-control
Automotive Infotainment Gesture Control for the rest of us — https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/design-solutions/7/7247.html
