1. Design Analysis & Enhancement of
Citroen C4 Dashboard and Displays
Lynne Doran
Hazel Kidney
Orla Shanahan
2. • “ The trend today is to produce automobiles
that have exciting systems which enhance the
users' driving experiences, however, the
distraction potential of these systems has not
fully been considered. “
(Tretten, Garling, & Pettersson, 2008)
3.
4. Introduction to System
• Define boundaries – just the dashboard +
displays
• Existing use scenarios/task
6. Conceptualization of Problem –
Colours and Dials
• Target signal similar to noise due to lack of colour or
contrast -increase in false alarms and misses
• Lower contrast in both colour and size result in driver
taking longer glances (Kim, Dey, Lee & Forlizzi, 2011).
• Displays are cluttered – self-terminating search(Wickens,
1999)
• Rockwell (1988) – when complex displays require glance
durations beyond 2 seconds most drivers will experience
visual workload problems.
7. Conceptualization of Problem –
Colours and Dials
• Darker characters on light background – in contradiction to
UMTRI design guidelines (Green, Levison, Paelke & Serafi,
1994).
• Tachometer –should increase in an upward motion not
horizontally.
• Speedometer is digital – no congruence with mental model
of speed (Wickens, 1999)
• No colour used in temperature or speed gauges
9. Visual Search
• Four different screens
• Dispersal of information and incorporation of
unnecessary information
• The operator has to scan each screen, hindering
efficiency and increasing the time taken in visual
search
• Serial Search
• Target among stimuli model
10. Hazard lights
• Target Among Stimuli Model
• Operator searched through various distracters for
hazard button
• Parallel search; target defined using simple rule;
as experienced driver knew the hazard icon
• Blocked field of vision due to
design of vehicle
• Once attention was directed,
signal was located
13. Conceptualization of problems
• Drivers must have their attention on the outside
of the car rather than on in-vehicle displays (Baber
& Wankling, 1992).
• Signal detection
• Poor location – More important warning lights
further from drivers view
• Symbols not obvious or clear
15. How problems affect drivers
• All of these problems
contribute to driver
distraction, decreased
situation awareness and
increased mental load
• Drivers experience
many distractions on
the road, in vehicle
distractions should be
eliminated
16. Research Design
• Control and Display Survey – car owner, novice
user
• Field Experiment:
Novice user, completed tasks while driving
Dependant Variable – Time taken to complete
task
Testing attention levels
17. • “The dashboard does its primary job if it tells
you with no more than a glance that you
should act. It serves you superbly if it directly
opens the door to any additional information
that you need to take that action.”
Stephen Few
20. Proposed Solution
• Change colours – increase contrast and
introduce pictorial realism
• Reduce clutter – simplify display
• Move hazard lights
• 3 screens –split HDD and HUD dashboard and
CS
• Move information to more appropriate areas
• Move warning lights
21. Solution for Colours and Dials
• Use of light characters on dark background
(Green et al., 1994)
• Increase signal strength by using contrasting
colours and sizes
• Pictorial realism – colour depicting danger on
speedometer and temperature gauges
22. Solution for Colours and Dials
• Adheres to Nielson’s Heuristic Design Principles
(1994)
• Clutter reduced – unnecessary elements
eliminated
• Most commonly used instruments in a salient
position
• System should now be self-evident
23. Solution for Colours and Dials
• Speedometer – keep digital numbers but
include dial around outside – ecological
compatibility
• Analogue tachometer
24. Solution for Location of info
• All important information displayed in HUD –
speed, fuel gauge, engine temp
• Info in HDD – revs, warning lights
• Radio, sat nav, heating, in CS – extras will be in
CS so changes will not distract driver
• Reduces visual search
• Improves signal detection
25. Solution for Screens
• Improve visual search by reducing area
necessary for search – 3 screens, split dash
(HUD, HDD & CF; Primary and secondary
information)
• Change shape of screens improve UFOV
26. Solution for Warning Lights
Study by Tretten, Normark, & Gärling, (2008).
• Warnings for serious failures and mechanical
operation preferred on the HUD.
• Warnings for maintenance/service along with
reminders preferred on the HDD.
• Response times and driving was perceived to be
better when using the HUD.
Signal Detection
• Important warnings moved to HUD.
• Can be detected by a sound.
27. Warning Lights Solution
• Urgent serious warnings = red
• Important warnings = orange.
• Icons with text labels are found to enhance
performance, compared to icons alone.
• Enhance perceptions of usefulness, compared to
text alone Wiedenbeck (1999)
29. References
• Baber, C. and Wankling, J. (1992). An experimental comparison of text and
symbols for in-car reconfigurable displays. Applied Ergonomics,
23(4), 255-262.
• Few, S. (2006). Information dashboard design: the effective visual
communication of data. Publisher: O’Reilly.
• Nielsen, J. (1994). Ten usability heuristics. Retrieved from
http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/he uristic_list.html
• Regan, M. A., Lee, J. D. & Young, K. L. (eds.) (2008) Driver distraction:
Theory, effects and mitigation. Florida, USA: CRC Press.
• Tretten, P., Normark, C.J., & Gärling, A. (2008). Warnings and Placement
Positions in Automobiles. Luleå University of Technology.
30. References
• Wiedenbeck, S. (1999). The use of icons and
labels in an end user application program:
An empirical study of learning and
retention. Behaviour & Information
Technology, 18(2), 68-82.
Editor's Notes
The displays in the C4 are cluttered and contain lots of information – in fact the only display which contains relatively little information is the HDD or head down display which as Orla will explain should in fact contain the most important info. Based on the target amongst stimuli model we know that a driver will investigate items one at a time until they find the target, unless the target has some salient feature which the majority of targets in the C4 do not. In the case of the C4 the driver will have to look at a lot of unnecessary information and in more than one location. This will reduce the attention the driver is paying to their primary task of driving and will compromise their performance. In driving a reduced level of performance can have serious consequences with most accidnets being caused by driver distraction. RockwellIn the Citroen c4 there are only 2 colours and very little contrast in size. This means that the driver will have to take their eyes from the road for longer periods of time to find the signal they are looking for – again this brings us back to Rockwell’s 2 second rule. The quicker a driver can find a signal the less distracted they become and the less their driving performance suffers.Drivers may also be less sensitive to signals for 2 reasons – if the signals are constantly occurring or if there is uncertainty about the time the signal will appear (e.g. engine fault light coming on)
Consider the difference between the radio display and the speedometer; the former is generally digital nowadays, but the latter is typically analog. With the radio, it's important to know exactly what frequency you're on in order to set the right station, but once you do that you generally don't need to look at the display very often. In contrast, you look at the speedometer more often, but the exact value isn't as important. The different requirements lend themselves to different types of displays.In something like speed the exact value is not necessary, knowing the approximate value is sufficient The human eye and brain will notice a needle in a different position quickly and that is what you are looking for, "change" if it is all normal, the needles are in their normal position but if things are changing when they are not supposed to, that needs to get your attention applies to tachometer also
Driving is still the primary task and should have the highest priority, the previous design of the car did not allow the driver to carry out this primary task efficiently–as it distracted the drivers attention more than was necessary. Our solutions should help the driver improve their driving performance by removing unnecessary distractions and decreasing mental load.
Green et al., found that light characters on a dark background are more easily distinguishable to the human eye, this will help decrease the time needed to locate a target signal.The digital depiction of speed will be considerably larger than many of the other pieces of information available to the driver as this is one of the most often consulted instruments.Colour will be added to the speedometer, tachometer and temperature gauge. Red has a well established symbolic meaning of danger (Wickens ,1999) and will let the driver know at a glance if they are in troubleThese changes should reduce the time taken to locate a target signal,
By reducing the clutter the design is following Nielsen’s recommendation of simplicity, it will also reduce the distractors around target signalsIf the system is self-evident users will not need any instruction on how to use it
Ecological compatibility – physically speed is changing increasing or decreasing – should be represented by an analogue display not a digital one however, Kim et al., (2011) did find that people responded well to both the dial and the large numbers depicting the speed so incorporate both The tachometer will now be an analogue dial – not necessary for the driver to know the exact value depicted by the tachometerBoth of these changes should increase congruence between the drivers mental model, the physical environment and the interface, thus reducing the mental resources the driver needs when consulting these instruments.