Whether or not a product matches the user’s mental model and therefore his understanding of how it works influences the perceived usability. Therefore, it is beneficial if an interface is based on the user’s initial mental model, hence it works just as expected. If it contradicts preexisting models, operating errors and frustrated users are to be expected. This work proposes a method to increase the probability of correspondence between a developed product and the user’s mental model by addressing a common source of error in the product development process: Product designers assuming their own mental model matches the user’s. The process was demonstrated using the example of an adaptive user interface for commercial vehicles. A questionnaire was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the user group’s mental model of adaptive user interfaces. By conducting two expert workshops and a user survey with 75 truck drivers, a questionnaire consisting of 37 items and four dimensions was constructed. Thereby, the initial mental model of truck drivers regarding an adaptive user interface for commercial vehicles was determined.
Modern vehicles are complex working environments and feature a multitude of functionalities. This applies in particular to commercial vehicles, which are equipped with even more functions than passenger cars. Research showed the potential of context-adaptive user interfaces for reducing the complexity of the human-machine interaction but has focused on passenger cars. Therefore, a contextadaptive touchscreen-based system is conceptualized specifically for commercial vehicles such as trucks based on existing findings and design guidelines. Acknowledging the importance of being able to gather early user feedback for allowing fast iteration cycles, an interactive prototype was implemented, and a modular study setup developed. This combination was tested in an initial user study, which evaluated the usability as well as user experience in terms of the novel context-adaptive interface.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); HCI design and evaluation methods.
Commercial vehicle cockpits are, due to a high number of control elements, complex workplaces. To simplify the interaction, fewer buttons could only present currently relevant functions, which requires dynamic and therefore digital input modalities. While such modalities exist, their fitness for use in commercial vehicles has to be proven and compared. For this, a user study with N = 23 truck drivers was conducted to evaluate three potential hardware approaches with regards to operating safety and user acceptance. Results indicate minor differences in operating safety and none in acceptance ratings for buttons with display strip, buttons with integrated displays and a touchscreen with haptic feedback.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.