Interaction Design and Data Visualization for Future Digital Cars

Driving a car is becoming more and more complex. This does not happen because the functions that are necessary to drive are more difficult to perform: on the contrary, for example, electric and hybrid vehicles do not have any manual transmission gear. However, complexity lies in the fact that cars shall provide information on their current status, projections on their future state, optional information related to infotainment, to points of interest for the driver or the passengers, to the mobility system, to the connection with other subjects and objects outside the car etc. In such a variegated scenario, it is necessary to design a new space and several types of visual and interactive languages able to show and guarantee both pieces of information that are necessary to drive a vehicle in a safe way, and the accessory ones. Space and information shall then be designed in order to be adaptable to the user. The paradigm of adaptability has often been confused with customization. In this case, it aims instead to provide an intelligent car-system able to understand both the attitudes and the needs of the driver and to provide real-time answers, as appropriate to the situation. Modern cars are characterized by the constant effort to prove their potential in terms of performance and new integrated accessories, such as the protection from external agents, impacts and noise; to this end, visual languages can conform to this trend or they can express new forms and representations of data through which they can describe an increased need for communication with the external environment, a new awareness in the use of the car or a desire to focus only on driving etc. Moreover data visualization is changing thanks to a new mode of interaction between man and commands, as signs and their directionality cannot be inconsistent with the new input mode based, for example, on the use of gestures. In addition, on one hand, the introduction of gestures and other interaction modes inside the car can be a way to find a solution to the growing presence of controls and buttons which can often distract, especially if they are operated through a touch screen; on the other hand, it could become part of the driving pleasure, something that today is more and more difficult to feel. In this way, data visualization and interaction design can cooperate to provide a new sensory experience to the user. The research lead by the HMI team of the Polytechnic of Turin in collaboration with CRF seeks precisely to give solutions to these challenges in a Human Centered Design approach.