AUX - Automotive User Experience

Research Project, 2013 – 2017

This project will research the User Experience (UX) of the vehicle HMI. UX concerns a user’s subjective response to a product and is becoming increasingly important to the buyer as well as an important possibility for companies to stand out among competitors. Traditionally, usability and safety has been the main focus when designing and evaluating in-car interfaces. However, these factors are not enough for competitiveness in the 21st century.

The project seeks to improve the automotive industry’s capability of designing user interfaces resulting in a high level of positive customer satisfaction by providing metrics and methods for automotive HMI (Human Machine Interaction/Interface) User Experience (UX). 

A comparison can be made to the mobile industry where the Iphone set a shift of UX paradigm; the competitive advantage was the user interface, not the phone's technical features. The affective aspects of interfaces in the automotive industry need to be researched. There is a high development pace of new systems, i.e. active safety systems and connected services, which require understandable and pleasurable interfaces.

By providing an HMI with a pleasurable and supporting User Experience, the aim is that the driver will improve performance in terms of safe and greener driving as well as a strong brand loyalty and high overall satisfaction with the product. Happier drivers have also shown to be less accident prone and display a less risky and aggressive driving behavior.

Automotive UX methodology will be developed/refined and used for: Defining UX goals and metrics; Defining methodology for UX test loops of concepts with appropriate customers/stakeholders in appropriate test sites (desktop, simulator, field, etc).

The project investigates how UX data should be handled in strategic development phases – from ethnographic user studies, over simulator studies and customer clinics to specification of requirements. The project is run by a competence cluster involving industry, university, institute and suppliers.

Projectleader: MariAnne Karlsson, mak@chalmers.se