Design and evaluation of a steering wheel-mount speech interface for drivers´ mobile use in car

Advanced mobile devices with speech recognition interface offered driver assistance in many ways. However, current interaction mode between drivers and the speech interface on mobile devices still generates obvious manual and visual distractions while driving. This paper proposed and prototyped a driver-friendly interface including a Bluetooth module mounted on the steering wheel and a head-up display (HUD) unit on the windshield. It allows drivers to remotely activate the speech interaction mode of mobile devices without taking their hands off the steering wheel, and read the visual display of mobile devices without looking away from the road. Evaluation of the new interface was conducted through a driving simulator experiment. Results showed that the interface designed in this study had reduced driver distraction and increased usability.