
I have recently had the opportunity to drive a more modern car, at least one which is more modern than my usual day to day run around. Now I love my technology but I can’t help but think that some of the technology introduced into new cars may either be poorly thought through, poorly implemented, or simply lacking in sufficient consideration of the user experience (UX). And this to me highlights a more general problem which sometimes arises in relation to technology; introducing it because we can, rather than because we should.
So, I have driven three more modern cars recently complete with driver assistance functionality. My experience to date has been cars that squeak and bleep at me quite regularly when, as far as I am concerned, there is no need to and their protestations could actually be a distraction. For example, driving from Norfolk and the car started beeping and displayed a little coffee cup on the dash; Clearly it thought I was tired, and I will admit it was a long drive. And the beeping continued throughout the remainder of the drive. Next up we have the beeping when the car in front brakes when I am still accelerating, despite the fact I had saw this and had sufficient room to brake myself. The sudden bleating of the car took me by surprise and may actually have slowed my reaction rather than hastening it, however in this case I had plenty of space so it didn’t matter.
Then there are the errors such as where lanes split from two into three, and as I cross the transition the car thinks I am straying across lanes and either bleeps or, worse still, tries to pull and correct me. I even on one occasion was braking to turn left, indicating, as a car came out from the left turn having seen me indicating and there know it could now enter the main road. My car however saw a risk here and applied its brakes more without my intervention.
And lets not mention the dashboard and its one hundred different icons, dials and displays. I can see information on battery charging, speed, acceleration, cars detected in front or behind or to the side, whether I am tired or not (according to the car at least), info on my lights, navigation info and much more. All this info is great but is it too much information and does it therefore detract from doing what I should be doing, and actually driving the car.
The issue for me in all of this, is that I am driving the car and therefore expect to be in control. All the bleeping and extra onscreen information is just distracting from what I am trying to do, which is drive. Have the designers not heard of cognitive overload? I get that on some occasions the bleep or braking might prevent an accident, but I suspect on some occasions it may also be the cause of an accident, and that’s before we even start considering over-reliance on driving aids.
Like the discussion of AI in education, I think part of the issue here is that the human hasn’t been considered within the process and within the design. Its about technology rather than considering people, processes and technology. And we really need to ensure we consider the human, and in most situations, continue to put them in the centre. What information does the driver really need? How do we inform but not distract? To what extent can the cars autonomous driving aids take control, in what circumstances and how is the driver informed? Let’s ensure the human driver, be it of a car or a process, remains in control and is fully considered.