Automotive Usability: Human Computer Interaction in the Vehicle

Computer has become the most significant helper and tool around the world. It is used in all kinds of electronic devices and improves their usability much. Automobile is a great example in this topic to show how computer changes the way people interact with an item. During the past decades, more and more mechanical devices in automobile are replaced by electrical substitutions and the interface is evolved towards better user friendly experience. Among these changes, some make the automobile itself easier to acquaint and operate, like auto-transmission and power window/seat; some make driving safer for drivers and passengers, which we could see from safe belt alert light and parking sensors; and some make the experience on the road a funnier and comfortable thing rather than operating a frosty machine, like audio system, cruise control and navigation device. In all, intelligent interfaces accompanied intelligent automobile is the great trend in the near future, and which would bring human experience on the way to a brand new standard. Keywords-automobile; usability; automation; safety; entertainment; networking