IC-DEEP: A serious games based application to assess the ergonomics of in-vehicle information systems

With the number of in-vehicle information systems and the complexity of their tasks growing at a very high rate in near future, we need a clear understanding of their related distraction or mental workload and its impact on driver performance. Thus, in this paper we introduce these concepts already in the development phase of a product that will be used in an in-vehicle environment. We present the IC-DEEP (In-Car Ergonomics Evaluation Platform), which is an implementation approach in form of a Serious Game (SG) to autonomously assess, under low-time and low-cost conditions, the factors that can jeopardize the driving performance when manipulating or receiving information from in-vehicle information systems (IVISs). We evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach and draw conclusions on its effects on behavioral changes and IVIS assessment.