Abstract
Automotive infotainment systems have neglected front-seat passengers’ needs as they have not been the primary users of the car. Recently R&D efforts in academia and the automotive industry have been directed towards empowering front-seat passengers. Front-seat passengers can spend substantial time in the car accompanying the driver, but without having sufficient means to entertain themselves. This paper first briefly introduces the (front-seat) passenger-oriented studies in automotive user experience (UX) literature and concept cars presented in several automotive or technology shows in 2015-2016. The identified solutions are then categorized based on the varied dimensions of the infotainment experience. This helps the understanding of diverse aspects of the innovations including: novelties in in-car interactions based on embodiment of interaction technologies; new functionalities/infotainment features; and hedonic or pragmatic contributions to the passenger experience. However, there is still a need to investigate the link between the dimensions of front-seat passenger experience to prevent the users being exposed to underexplored technology-driven designs.
Keywords
front-seat passenger experience, automotive infotainment, automotive user interfaces, automotive UX trends
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.444
Citation
Sen, G., Sener, B., and Jump, M. (2018) Contemporary Automotive Infotainment Solutions to Empower Front-Seat Passengers, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.444
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Contemporary Automotive Infotainment Solutions to Empower Front-Seat Passengers
Automotive infotainment systems have neglected front-seat passengers’ needs as they have not been the primary users of the car. Recently R&D efforts in academia and the automotive industry have been directed towards empowering front-seat passengers. Front-seat passengers can spend substantial time in the car accompanying the driver, but without having sufficient means to entertain themselves. This paper first briefly introduces the (front-seat) passenger-oriented studies in automotive user experience (UX) literature and concept cars presented in several automotive or technology shows in 2015-2016. The identified solutions are then categorized based on the varied dimensions of the infotainment experience. This helps the understanding of diverse aspects of the innovations including: novelties in in-car interactions based on embodiment of interaction technologies; new functionalities/infotainment features; and hedonic or pragmatic contributions to the passenger experience. However, there is still a need to investigate the link between the dimensions of front-seat passenger experience to prevent the users being exposed to underexplored technology-driven designs.