Haptic Information in Cars

Cars have become increasingly complex with functions that provide additional services such as music, information and communication. In some cars the functions are merged into a single display solution controlled by a haptic rotary device. A haptic rotary device can communicate haptic information, i.e., cues that could be explored by touch. The effects of adding haptic information to secondary tasks in cars was investigated in this book. It could be concluded that a multimodal approach providing visual-haptic information was preferable to an interface solution with either visual or haptic information. An addition of haptic information could increase task performance, add clarity, and reduce attention, at least visual, off the road. However, haptic information could also pass unnoticed and more complex haptic additions could confuse the driver. One of the goals with this book was to provide the industry with information that could be used to develop more usable and safer in-vehicle interfaces for the driver. Therefore, this book was written for researchers within the field as well as HMI designers and developers in the car industry.