Auditory and Head-Up Displays for Eco-Driving Interfaces

Abstract

Eco-driving describes a strategy for operating a vehicle in a fuel-efficient manner. Current research shows that visual eco-driving interfaces can reduce fuel consumption by shaping motorists’ driving behavior but may hinder safe driving performance. The present study aimed to generate insights and direction for design iterations of auditory eco-driving displays and a potential matching head-up visual display to minimize the negative effects of using purely visual head-down eco-driving displays. Experiment 1 used a sound card-sorting task to establish mapping, scaling, and polarity of acoustic parameters for auditory eco-driving interfaces. Surveys following each sorting task determined preferences for the auditory display types. Experiment 2 was a sorting task to investigate design parameters of visual icons that are to be paired with these auditory displays. Surveys following each task revealed preferences for the displays. The results facilitated the design of intuitive interface prototypes for an auditory and matching head-up eco-driving display that can be compared to each other.