Interaction design of a safety-related in-vehicle nudging concept : How to adapt traditional usability testing for ambient display concepts

Abstract: Volvo Cars is working on reducing the frequency of small margin driving situation in order to reach Vision 2020; that no one should be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo car by 2020. In this specific case, there is one main goal; to increase the usage of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). ACC helps the driver by setting a time interval to the vehicle ahead, adapting the vehicle’s speed according to the set time interval. When using ACC, drivers will decrease the risk of crashes related to visual distraction, where close following conditions leaves the driver with too little time to recover when a lead vehicle unexpectedly brakes. By using ACC one increases the time for action during a potential crash situation. The purpose of the thesis work is to develop and iteratively test an ACC in-vehicle usage feedback concept that is using the principles of nudging. Nudging is an idea that relates to subconsciously pushing humans in a desired behavioural direction. Also, focus was on finding the right method for evaluation using traditional Usability testing as the ground design outline method. This work is divided into three phases; Research phase, Development phase and Final Performing phase. The research phase provides the opportunity to get to know the users and their experience of using ACC. The development phase was divided into two areas; the application development and method development. The third phase was the final performance, where the developed method was applied on the final implemented concept. This work resulted in a nudging concept aiming to encourage the driver towards a more frequent ACC usage, and a developed method for measuring drivers’ behaviour and experience on the usability and satisfaction of the concept.