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Title:

Impact of Key Size on Touchscreen Performance and Driving

Accession Number:

01552353

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

As in-vehicle touchscreens become more common there is growing concern about their impact on driver safety. The objective for this research is to determine how best to design touchscreens to minimize the physical and mental demands of their use. Key size is a critical factor in touchscreen design. When assessing the effects of key size it is essential to test in a context as similar as possible to the one where the device will be used because context may influence physical and cognitive demands. In this study, the effects of key size were assessed in a driving simulator, a complete car body surrounded by 300-degree wrap-around viewing screens. Simulators permit drivers to be tested in challenging driving conditions without putting lives at risk. This simulator provided the sights, sounds and some of the sensations of driving, including engine vibration. The effects of key size and the context of use (touchscreen use while parked as compared to driving) were investigated. Performance was assessed (speed and accuracy of keypad use, hazard response times and steering variability while driving) as well as perceived workload. Results indicated that key size had different effects depending on context of use, a finding with ramifications for touchscreen design in vehicles. Although keypad performance increased significantly as key sizes increased from small to large, driving performance did not, with performance equivalent between small and large key sizes and the highest physical workload associated with mid-sized rather than small keys.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND10 Vehicle User Characteristics.

Monograph Accession #:

01550057

Report/Paper Numbers:

15-3352

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Cortens, Benjamin
Trick, Lana
Nonnecke, Blair

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2015

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References (33) ; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Touch screens

Subject Areas:

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-3352

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 30 2014 1:07PM