Writing to your car

Abstract

For in-car navigation, information and entertainment systems, text input is increasingly important. We investigate handwriting as a text input modality and assess where to best position the input surface and how to provide feedback. For this purpose, we created different prototypes that allow text input on the steering wheel and in the central console, as well as visual feedback on the input surface and on the dashboard. The results of the study indicate that handwritten text input on the steering wheel is well-received by the users and that the visual feedback should be presented in the dashboard area or on the steering wheel. We also observed that the number of corrective actions and the remaining errors were significantly smaller (25% less) on the steering wheel than in the central console and that entering text while driving made people drive slower.