Text Comprehension: Heads-Up vs. Auditory Displays: Implications for a Productive Work Environment in SAE Level 3 Automated Vehicles

Abstract

With increasing automation, vehicles could soon become "mobile offices" but traditional user interfaces (UIs) for office work are not optimized for this domain. We hypothesize that productive work will only be feasible in SAE level 3 automated vehicles if UIs are adapted to (A) the operational design domain, and (B) driver-workers' capabilities. Consequently, we studied adapted interfaces for a typical office task (text-comprehension) by varying display modality (heads-up reading vs. auditory listening), as well as UI behavior in conjunction with take-over situations (attention-awareness vs. no attention-awareness). Self-ratings, physiological indicators, and objective performance measures in a driving simulator study (N = 32) allowed to derive implications for a mobile workspace automated vehicle. Results highlight that heads-up displays promote sequential multi-tasking and thereby reduce workload and improve productivity in comparison to auditory displays, which were still more attractive to users. Attention-awareness led to reduced stress but later driving reactions, consequently requiring further investigations.