“Light On”: A Voice Controlled Vehicle-Light System Based on Translating Drives’ Voice into Computer Commands to Reduce Operation Workload of Drivers

Abstract

Driving, including manual controlling and decision making, asks a huge operation workload for drivers. Even a small distribution can lead to serious traffic accidents. The wrong use of vehicle lights and the misunderstanding of vehicle lights are some of the causes of traffic accidents. Therefore, this study tries to promote a voice controlled vehicle-light system which could translate people’s voice into computer commands and reduce the operation workload of people. To be specific, this study presents an interface - “Light On”, a semi-autonomous vehicle-light system based on Voice User Interface (VUI) and the screen in the vehicle to reduce traffic accidents caused by the incorrect use of vehicle lights. The vehicle lights can be switched on and off automatically based on GPS. Voice is used to give etiquette vehicle-light commands and cancel the wrong commands detected by system. Graphical User Interface (GUI) on screen and VUI will provide feedback of vehicle-light using condition. The study also involves a small-scale prototype-evaluation experiment to evaluate the feasibility of the system. The results are promising as they revealed that “Light On” has the potential to be accepted by drivers and put forward some future semi-autonomous vehicle-light-design suggestions. Furthermore, the results can offer preliminary support in what might be a bigger in the program of work. Also, the VUI can transfer information among vehicles. This may be a potential new communication way for drivers besides vehicle light and gesture.