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Over the past decade, the interior design of the modern vehicle has undergone one of the most significant human-computer interaction transformations in consumer technology.
In 2012, Tesla released the Model S
with a 17-inch center-mounted touchscreen.
The industry-wide race began to maximize touchscreen size.
This ‘screenification’ inevitably consolidates nearly every vehicle function into a single touchscreen interface.
This reduces manufacturing costs & signals technological complexity.
But, the central problem is misalignment between what these interfaces offer and what drivers can safely manage while operating a vehicle.
This misalignment is not simply a matter of consumer preference; it is a measurable safety crisis.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
distracted driving has caused:
3,275
fatalities in 2023
3,208
fatalities in 2024
315,000
injuries in 2024
This presents the case for vibrotactile feedback
Vibrotactile feedback restores a critical non-visual confirmation channel by delivering input registration directly to the fingertip.
Despite previous studies, a significant gap remains:
Multi-step touchscreen interactions for essential driving functions.
Research Questions
1
How does multi-step touchscreen interaction affect drivers’ visual-manual workload during essential driving tasks?
2
Does the presence of vibrotactile feedback in touchscreen interactions reduce visual-manual workload compared to touchscreen interactions without vibrotactile feedback?
3
How do users’ preferences and perceived usability differ between touchscreen interfaces with vibrotactile feedback and those without vibrotactile feedback for essential driving functions?
Car UI mockup made using Figma and VSCode
A prototype external haptic motor was developed and used in this study to evaluate touchscreen interaction.
Participants wore a small fabric holder that secures the motor coin and wraps around the finger, allowing haptic feedback to be delivered directly to the finger when certain buttons are pressed.
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After the three tasks, participants then completed:
What Did We Find?
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