Destination Entry And Retrieval With The Ali-Scout Navigation System Fast-Trac Phase Iib Deliverable

NHTSA · 1996 · ROSA P / United States. Joint Program Office for Intelligent Transportation Systems

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Summary

This report evaluates the usability and safety of destination entry and retrieval tasks using the Ali-Scout navigation system, a component of the FAST-TRAC Intelligent Transportation Systems project. The research was motivated by the need to ensure that in-vehicle navigation systems are safe and easy to use, particularly regarding the driver task of designating destinations. While route following occurs while driving, destination designation is often assumed to happen while parked; however, the study acknowledges scenarios where drivers may need to input data while in motion. The primary objectives were to determine typical entry and retrieval times, assess the impact of driver demographics (age and sex) and environmental factors (lighting), identify specific usability problems with the Ali-Scout interface, and validate whether touchscreen simulations can accurately predict performance on real hardware. The study involved 36 licensed drivers divided into three age groups: young (18–30), middle-aged (40–55), and older (over 65), with equal gender representation within each group. Participants performed tasks in a vehicle mockup, retrieving and entering a total of 20 destinations using the real Ali-Scout system and 10 destinations using a touchscreen simulation. Retrieval tasks involved keying parts of destination names and scrolling through lists, while entry tasks required inputting the destination name, longitude, and latitude. The real interface was tested under both dusk and nighttime lighting conditions, whereas the simulation was tested only at dusk. The researchers collected data on task completion times, error rates, and subjective usability feedback, using medians to represent typical performance due to outliers in timing data. The results indicated that median retrieval times ranged from 0.4 to 12.0 seconds (overall median 6.2 seconds), while median entry times ranged from 39.5 to 67.6 seconds (overall median 51.5 seconds), excluding an additional 30–60 seconds required to look up coordinates in a manual. Significant demographic differences were observed: men took 34% longer for retrieval and 19% longer for entry than women. Older subjects performed significantly slower than younger subjects, with mean times 2.8 times longer for retrieval and 2.2 times longer for entry. Environmental and interface factors also impacted performance; entry times were 22% longer at night than at dusk, and the simulated interface took 75% longer for retrieval and 37% longer for entry compared to the real system. Usability issues identified included poor key labeling, confusing shift key logic, difficult field changes, inadequate key size and spacing, and a lack of system feedback. The study concludes that while the Ali-Scout system is functional, it presents significant usability challenges, particularly for older drivers and under low-light conditions. The substantial performance gap between the simulation and the real interface suggests that simulations may not be fully reliable substitutes for real-hardware usability testing, despite their cost-effectiveness. The findings highlight the importance of ergonomic design in navigation interfaces, specifically regarding key size, labeling, and feedback mechanisms. These results inform the development of future navigation systems by emphasizing the need for interfaces that minimize driver distraction and accommodate the varying capabilities of different demographic groups. The report also notes that the reliance on manual coordinate lookup adds significant time to the entry process, suggesting that future systems should integrate more direct methods for destination designation.

Key finding

Median destination entry times were 51.5 seconds while retrieval times were 6.2 seconds, with older drivers taking 2.8 times longer to retrieve and 2.2 times longer to enter destinations than younger drivers.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Sample size: 36

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

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• control interfaces