Bionic - "Eyes-free" design of secondary driving controls

Abstract

The BIONIC project (Blind Operation of In-car Controls) was set-up to develop an "eyes-free" prototype interface, enabling drivers to access secondary and ancillary controls whilst minimising the visual demands within the car. This research was initiated out of concern for the increasing use of multi-function screen based interfaces that place an additional visual workload on the driver. BIONIC has created new guidelines for the design of highly tactile control interfaces, based upon a series of experimental studies and the development of prototype designs. Working prototypes were installed within a Honda Civic demonstrator vehicle and these novel controls were compared to the current interface in on-road trials. A reduction in total glance duration of 10% was stated as our target in the grant proposal; the BIONIC interface surpassed this benchmark.