Visual and cognitive demands of using in-vehicle infotainment systems
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Summary
Strayer, Cooper, Goethe, McCarty, Getty, and Biondi (AAA Foundation) measured the visual, cognitive, and temporal demand of IVIS interactions across 30 model-year-2017 vehicles. For each vehicle, 24 participants completed up to four task types (audio, calling/dialing, text messaging, navigation) using up to three modes of interaction (center stack, auditory vocal, center console) on a 25 mph residential road, with the head-mounted/remote DRT, NASA-TLX, and task-completion time anchored to single-task baseline and to N-back (cognitive) and SuRT (visual) high-demand referents. Demand systematically rose from audio/calling, to text messaging, to navigation (which exceeded twice the high-demand referent); voice interactions reduced visual demand below SuRT but extended interaction time (~30 s); 12 of 30 vehicles scored significantly above the high-demand referent.
Key finding
Across 30 model-year-2017 vehicles, navigation entry was the most demanding IVIS task type and 12 of 30 vehicles scored above the N-back/SuRT high-demand referent, with voice modes trading visual demand for longer interaction times.
Methodology
Cross-vehicle on-road instrumented study; 24 participants per vehicle x 30 vehicles, within-subjects task type x interaction mode, with DRT, NASA-TLX, video task-completion coding, anchored to N-back and SuRT high-demand referents.
Sample size: 720
Quality score: 5 / 5