Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility

A special issue of Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (ISSN 2414-4088).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (14 February 2021) | Viewed by 38788

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
Interests: automotive user interfaces; health-oriented AR/VR applications; automated driving

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Guest Editor
CARISSMA Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt, Germany
Interests: automated driving; automation trust and acceptance; driver modeling; attentive user interfaces
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the transition to automated vehicles, a great variety of research topics have emerged over the last couple of years. We, as a research community, have started to better understand the underlying problems in important processes like vehicle monitoring or driver take over, and we are gradually moving from fundamental research towards more design-oriented approaches to solve these problems. At the same time, we have realized that achieving major promises of driving automation, such as a reduction in traffic volume and emissions, or increased safety, requires taking into account the surroundings more holistically. Topics such as the integration of vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, accessibility in transportation, or the design and evaluation of shared mobility modes play an increasingly relevant role in automated driving research.

Consequently, we want to acknowledge this shift in our upcoming Special Issue by focusing on “future mobility” as an overarching concept, as we fear that the vehicle-centric term “automotive” is no more inclusive enough for covering all that is essential for the design of future transportation systems.

With this Special Issue, we call for papers that explicitly address the design and evaluation of interfaces and experiences in and outside the vehicle. This of course includes, but is not limited to, designs relevant for classical driver–vehicle interaction, such as support in transitions; interior and interface design for productivity and wellbeing; shared control; or the new role of drivers as operators of complex automation, including training and licensing processes.

In particular, we are interested in contributions addressing the integration of vulnerable road users (VRUs), such as pedestrians or cyclists, into future traffic systems. Because of the increased use of automation, they will no longer be able to communicate with drivers (for example using eye-gaze or gestures). However, this call is not restricted to publications addressing novel communication interfaces, it also covers stand-alone HMIs for VRUs in order to increase safety, comfort, and behavior change towards these climate-friendly transport modes.

Furthermore, we are interested in work addressing the accessibility and inclusiveness of novel mobility forms, including interior design of future shared automated vehicles, HMIs for booking processes, novel interaction concepts to maintain important user needs, and teleoperation of vehicle fleets.

In this Special Issue, we invite researchers, scientists, developers, and practitioners to submit contributions that are original and unpublished, and that have not been submitted to any other journal, magazine, or conference. We are soliciting original research related to automotive user interfaces in the age of automation, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Human–computer interaction related to aspects of automated vehicles in the transition towards automated driving
  • User experience and usability
  • Novel approaches and technologies
  • Interactions beyond the private car, including bikes, pedestrians, shared mobility, etc.
  • Social and environmental aspects of future transportation

In detail, this could be related, for instance, tot he following:

  • Interactions within the car
    • Non-driving-related activities
    • Take-over requests/control transitions
    • Interaction modalities and novel interiors, e.g.,
      • In-vehicle displays, including AR, 3D, HUD, etc.
      • Physiological interfaces
      • Affective computing and emotions
      • Haptic interfaces
      • Shape-changing interfaces and novel materials
      • Multimodal interfaces
    • Infotainment systems and passenger Entertainment
    • Driver assistance
  • Interacting with other road users
    • Interaction between cyclists and pedestrians, as well as automated vehicles
    • Interacting with (other) automated vehicles and drivers
  • Shared control and authority
  • Mixed traffic scenarios
  • Mode and situation awareness
  • Vehicle–infrastructure interaction
  • Theories and research methods
  • Acceptance, trust, and complacency
  • Interfaces and systems that support social or environmental sustainability

Important Dates & Facts:
Abstract/title submission: ideally until January 20, 2021
Manuscripts due by: February 14, 2021
Notification to authors: March 1, 2021
Final versions due by: March 15, 2021
Tentative publication: July 2021

Dr. Shadan Sadeghian Borojeni
Dr. Philipp Wintersberger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

34 pages, 53116 KiB  
Article
Improving the UX for Users of Automated Shuttle Buses in Public Transport: Investigating Aspects of Exterior Communication and Interior Design
by Andreas Riener, Dominik Schlackl, Julia Malsam, Josef Huber, Benjamin Homm, Marion Kaczmar, Iris Kleitsch, Alina Megos, Eunji Park, Gülsüm Sanverdi, Sabrina Schmidt, Daniel Bracaci and Esha Anees
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(10), 61; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5100061 - 09 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4685
Abstract
As a precursor to future public transportation, automated shuttle buses can already be experienced in some test regions, but the general public still has reservations and may not yet be ready for this change. For example, the fact that such vehicles might operate [...] Read more.
As a precursor to future public transportation, automated shuttle buses can already be experienced in some test regions, but the general public still has reservations and may not yet be ready for this change. For example, the fact that such vehicles might operate independently (without a human driver) creates a barrier of uncertainty and mistrust among people. In this work, we aim to identify and classify the prevailing reservations and propose solutions. We followed the User Centered Design (UCD) process to design concepts that are specifically tailored to the needs of future public transport users. After related work analysis, on-site research, and pre-studies, two main studies were conducted specifically to address communication in the exterior (n = 24) and interior/service design (n = 21). For both studies, we applied a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative measures. Our results indicate that, in general, existing ways of communication in the exterior are insufficient to meet future needs. The two visualization concepts for external communication developed in this work were rated (significantly) better in most dimensions of the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), when compared to the baseline condition with no additional visualization. Furthermore, preferences among the study participants towards simple, highly visible, and well-known lighting concepts could be observed. As for the interior, the results show that participants rated attractiveness highly for the two design concepts (closer, further in the future) as compared to current, state-of-the-art solutions (automated buses currently in operation). For the “near future” concept, the pragmatic quality dominated, while in the other (the “far future”) concept the hedonic quality was in the foreground. From the results, design recommendations in different categories were derived, which reflect the general openness of the public towards new technologies and interior approaches, but also point out the importance for privacy and designated personal spaces inside an (automated) shuttle bus. Some of the results do not strictly apply to automated shuttle buses, and can serve as valuable suggestions for improving conventional shuttle buses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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31 pages, 9019 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Headless Rider: Display-Based Awareness and Intent-Communication in Automated Vehicle-Pedestrian Interaction in Mixed Traffic
by Julia Forke, Peter Fröhlich, Stefan Suette, Michael Gafert, Jaison Puthenkalam, Lisa Diamond, Marcel Zeilinger and Manfred Tscheligi
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(9), 51; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5090051 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3257
Abstract
Automated vehicles do not yet have clearly defined signaling methods towards other road users, which could complement natural communication practices with human drivers, such as eye contact or hand gestures. In order to establish trust, external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs) have been proposed, but [...] Read more.
Automated vehicles do not yet have clearly defined signaling methods towards other road users, which could complement natural communication practices with human drivers, such as eye contact or hand gestures. In order to establish trust, external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs) have been proposed, but so far, these have not been widely evaluated in natural traffic contexts. This paper presents a user study where 30 participants interacted with a functional display-based visual eHMI for an automated shuttle in mixed urban traffic. Two distinct features were investigated: the communication of (1) its awareness of different obstacles on the road ahead and (2) of its intention to start or to brake. The results indicate that the majority of participants in general regarded eHMIs as necessary for automated vehicles. When reflecting their experience with the eHMIs, about half of the participants experienced an increased comprehension and safety. The combined presentation of obstacle awareness and vehicle intentions helped more participants to understand the shuttle’s behavior than the presentation of obstacle awareness only, but fewer participants regarded this combination of awareness and intent to be safe. The strength of the found effects on subjective responses varied with regard to age and gender. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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16 pages, 1874 KiB  
Article
Security Issues in Shared Automated Mobility Systems: A Feminist HCI Perspective
by Martina Schuß, Philipp Wintersberger and Andreas Riener
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(8), 43; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5080043 - 07 Aug 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3401
Abstract
The spread of automated vehicles (AVs) is expected to disrupt our mobility behavior. Currently, a male bias is prevalent in the technology industry in general, and in the automotive industry in particular, mainly focusing on white men. This leads to an under-representation of [...] Read more.
The spread of automated vehicles (AVs) is expected to disrupt our mobility behavior. Currently, a male bias is prevalent in the technology industry in general, and in the automotive industry in particular, mainly focusing on white men. This leads to an under-representation of groups of people with other social, physiological, and psychological characteristics. The advent of automated driving (AD) should be taken as an opportunity to mitigate this bias and consider a diverse variety of people within the development process. We conducted a qualitative, exploratory study to investigate how shared automated vehicles (SAVs) should be designed from a pluralistic perspective considering a holistic viewpoint on the whole passenger journey by including booking, pick-up, and drop-off points. Both, men and women, emphasized the importance of SAVs being flexible and clean, whereas security issues were mentioned exclusively by our female participants. While proposing different potential solutions to mitigate security matters, we discuss them through the lens of the feminist HCI framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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22 pages, 1284 KiB  
Article
Teleoperation of Highly Automated Vehicles in Public Transport: User-Centered Design of a Human-Machine Interface for Remote-Operation and Its Expert Usability Evaluation
by Carmen Kettwich, Andreas Schrank and Michael Oehl
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(5), 26; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5050026 - 05 May 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6933
Abstract
Paving the way to future mobility, teleoperation of vehicles promises a reachable solution to effectively use the benefits of automated driving as long as fully automated vehicles (SAE 5) are not entirely feasible. Safety and reliability are assured by a human operator who [...] Read more.
Paving the way to future mobility, teleoperation of vehicles promises a reachable solution to effectively use the benefits of automated driving as long as fully automated vehicles (SAE 5) are not entirely feasible. Safety and reliability are assured by a human operator who remotely observes the vehicle and takes over control in cases of disturbances that exceed the vehicle automation’s skills. In order to integrate the vehicle’s automation and human remote-operation, we developed a novel user-centered human-machine interface (HMI) for teleoperation. It is tailored to the remote-operation of a highly automated shuttle (SAE 4) by a public transport control center and based on a systematic analysis of scenarios, of which detailed requirements were derived. Subsequently, a paper-pencil prototype was generated and refined until a click-dummy emerged. This click-dummy was evaluated by twelve control center professionals. The experts were presented the prototype in regular mode and were then asked to solve three scenarios with disturbances in the system. Using structured interview and questionnaire methodology, the prototype was evaluated regarding its usability, situation awareness, acceptance, and perceived workload. Results support our HMI design for teleoperation of a highly automated shuttle, especially regarding usability, acceptance, and workload. Participant ratings and comments indicated particularly high satisfaction with the interaction design to resolve disturbances and the presentation of camera images. Participants’ feedbacks provide valuable information for a refined HMI design as well as for further research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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13 pages, 4474 KiB  
Article
Supporting User Onboarding in Automated Vehicles through Multimodal Augmented Reality Tutorials
by Henrik Detjen, Robert Niklas Degenhart, Stefan Schneegass and Stefan Geisler
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(5), 22; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5050022 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4680
Abstract
Misconceptions of vehicle automation functionalities lead to either non-use or dangerous misuse of assistant systems, harming the users’ experience by reducing potential comfort or compromise safety. Thus, users must understand how and when to use an assistant system. In a preliminary online survey, [...] Read more.
Misconceptions of vehicle automation functionalities lead to either non-use or dangerous misuse of assistant systems, harming the users’ experience by reducing potential comfort or compromise safety. Thus, users must understand how and when to use an assistant system. In a preliminary online survey, we examined the use, trust, and the perceived understanding of modern vehicle assistant systems. Despite remaining incomprehensibility (36–64%), experienced misunderstandings (up to 9%), and the need for training (around 30%), users reported high trust in the systems. In the following study with first-time users, we examine the effect of different User Onboarding approaches for an automated parking assistant system in a Tesla and compare the traditional text-based manual with a multimodal augmented reality (AR) smartphone application in means of user acceptance, UX, trust, understanding, and task performance. While the User Onboarding experience for both approaches shows high pragmatic quality, the hedonic quality was perceived significantly higher in AR. For the automated parking process, reported hedonic and pragmatic user experience, trust, automation understanding, and acceptance do not differ, yet the observed task performance was higher in the AR condition. Overall, AR might help motivate proper User Onboarding and better communicate how to operate the system for inexperienced users. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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20 pages, 27800 KiB  
Article
Displays for Productive Non-Driving Related Tasks: Visual Behavior and Its Impact in Conditionally Automated Driving
by Clemens Schartmüller, Klemens Weigl, Andreas Löcken, Philipp Wintersberger, Marco Steinhauser and Andreas Riener
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(4), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5040021 - 18 Apr 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5089
Abstract
(1) Background: Primary driving tasks are increasingly being handled by vehicle automation so that support for non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) is becoming more and more important. In SAE L3 automation, vehicles can require the driver-passenger to take over driving controls, though. Interfaces for [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Primary driving tasks are increasingly being handled by vehicle automation so that support for non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) is becoming more and more important. In SAE L3 automation, vehicles can require the driver-passenger to take over driving controls, though. Interfaces for NDRTs must therefore guarantee safe operation and should also support productive work. (2) Method: We conducted a within-subjects driving simulator study (N=53) comparing Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) and Auditory Speech Displays (ASDs) for productive NDRT engagement. In this article, we assess the NDRT displays’ effectiveness by evaluating eye-tracking measures and setting them into relation to workload measures, self-ratings, and NDRT/take-over performance. (3) Results: Our data highlights substantially higher gaze dispersion but more extensive glances on the road center in the auditory condition than the HUD condition during automated driving. We further observed potentially safety-critical glance deviations from the road during take-overs after a HUD was used. These differences are reflected in self-ratings, workload indicators and take-over reaction times, but not in driving performance. (4) Conclusion: NDRT interfaces can influence visual attention even beyond their usage during automated driving. In particular, the HUD has resulted in safety-critical glances during manual driving after take-overs. We found this impacted workload and productivity but not driving performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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14 pages, 1966 KiB  
Article
Context-Adaptive Availability Notifications for an SAE Level 3 Automation
by Simon Danner, Alexander Feierle, Carina Manger and Klaus Bengler
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(4), 16; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5040016 - 29 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3724
Abstract
Context-adaptive functions are not new in the driving context, but even so, investigations into these functions concerning the automation human–machine interface (aHMI) have yet to be carried out. This study presents research into context-adaptive availability notifications for an SAE Level 3 automation in [...] Read more.
Context-adaptive functions are not new in the driving context, but even so, investigations into these functions concerning the automation human–machine interface (aHMI) have yet to be carried out. This study presents research into context-adaptive availability notifications for an SAE Level 3 automation in scenarios where participants were surprised by either availability or non-availability. For this purpose, participants (N = 30) took part in a driving simulator study, experiencing a baseline HMI concept as a comparison, and a context-adaptive HMI concept that provided context-adaptive availability notifications with the aim of improving acceptance and usability, while decreasing frustration (due to unexpected non-availability) and gaze deviation from the road when driving manually. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that participants, when experiencing the context-adaptive HMI, would activate the automated driving function more quickly when facing unexpected availability. None of the hypotheses could be statistically confirmed; indeed, where gaze behavior was concerned, the opposite effects were found, indicating increased distraction induced by the context-adaptive HMI. However, the trend in respect to the activation time was towards shorter times with the context-adaptive notifications. These results led to the conclusion that context-adaptive availability notifications might not always be beneficial for users, while more salient availability notifications in the case of an unexpected availability could be advantageous. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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18 pages, 4414 KiB  
Article
Rear-Seat Productivity in Virtual Reality: Investigating VR Interaction in the Confined Space of a Car
by Jingyi Li, Ceenu George, Andrea Ngao, Kai Holländer, Stefan Mayer and Andreas Butz
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(4), 15; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5040015 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5291
Abstract
Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space [...] Read more.
Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space constrains interactions while the virtual space may be conceptually borderless. We therefore conducted a VR study (N = 33) to examine the influence of physical restraints and virtual working environments on performance, presence, and the feeling of safety. Our findings show that virtual borders make passengers touch the car interior less, while performance and presence are comparable across conditions. Although passengers prefer a secluded and unlimited virtual environment (nature), they are more productive in a shared and limited one (office). We further discuss choices for virtual borders and environments, social experience, and safety responsiveness. Our work highlights opportunities and challenges for future research and design of rear-seat VR interaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface and Experience Design for Future Mobility)
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