Dynamic navigation system design for networked electric vehicles

Abstract

Data saturation of satellite navigation systems (already a problem with location based services) will become particularly acute in the emerging area of networked electric vehicles (NEV). Sophisticated energy management and navigation software may solve a technology integration challenge, but it will leave unresolved the usability implications for drivers and fleet operators. These include navigation data specific to commercial electric vehicles; delivery scheduling, routes, times, traffic congestion avoidance, range & charge levels etc. Many are time dependent factors that complicate interaction with a map based navigation system. They also risk augmenting driver stress and distraction induced errors. This Paper has two objectives. Firstly we examine the problem of information saturation of navigation systems. Secondly we undertook a series of user tests to evaluate an alternative NEV navigation system. The DHS solution is a compressed data feed delivering "just in time" multimodal prompts embedded in the map route. The test results demonstrated improved driver comprehension and reduced driver glance away time from road to navigation system. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.