User preferences for a serious game to improve driving

Abstract

As automotive games are gaining interest, there is a lack in literature on specifications, user needs and requirements. We collected information from potential users on some basic features about two types of games for improving the driver performance: driver games and passenger games. In a survey with 18 respondents, both the typologies have been considered appealing, with drivers more interested in assessing performance and having suggestions, passengers in having fun. The greatest difference involves the requirement that a driver game should avoid distraction. Thus, the set-up phase should be doable when the vehicle is stopped, the visual feedback, if any, should be very limited (e.g., color spots), and most of the feedback should be provided through the audio channel. Passenger games might have more complex plots, with chance factors, and also support social interaction, for instance with passengers of other vehicles.