Shaping the drivers’ interaction: how the new vehicle systems match the technological requirements and the human needs

Abstract

Although it is not always possible to derive from statistics the causes of an accident, data clearly show that they are mostly due to a lack of driver’s perception, with high direct and indirect social costs for society (Hutchinson in Road accidents statistics, Rumsby Scientific Publishing, 1987; Kawai in Convergence 1994, Conference Proceedings, 1994; Boussuge in Bilan et perspectives, Revue Gen. des Routes et des Aerodromes, N. 726, 1995). Therefore, a strong integration among all the actors involved (i.e., the drivers, the vehicle or technical system in general and the driving environment) is quite necessary. From the beginning of 1980s, there has been a shift in system concept design, moving from a technological approach towards a human-centred design approach (Norman and Draper 1986; Rouse 1991). Firstly this approach was applied to the human–computer interaction domain, and has also been extended towards complex and automated technological systems (Sheridan in Telerobotics, automation, and human supervisory control, MIT Press, 1992; Scerbo in Human performance in automated systems: theory and applications, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996) in several domains as, among the others, automotive (Michon in Generic intelligent driver support, Taylor & Francis, 1994) and industrial plants (Cacciabue in Giuseppe mantovani ergonomia, II Mulino, 2000). According to these perspectives, the role of user’s needs in the design process of a certain system becomes crucial; nevertheless, the technological requirements, i.e., the so-called “machine needs” should maintain a role of which the designer should be totally aware. Otherwise, the risk is to fail the design process making a system incoherent and ineffective. Thus, this paper aims at presenting such types of needs, the mutual interaction between machine and users, as well as the interaction of both with the surrounding environment. The work is based on several experiences conducted in the automotive domain.