According to Engadget, Volvo will be adding a number of new features to annoy the piss out the soccer moms who drive their cars. Included will be a
Driver Alert Control for monitoring the behavior of the vehicle and suggesting that the motorist take a coffee break if there's just too much swayin' going on. Additionally, Volvo will be adding the slightly more common adaptive cruise control and distance alert features to the aforementioned cars
So what does a human factors expert (really my roommate David - although he really is a human factors expert) think about all this?
Great, lets annoy the shit out of the driver with obvious, non-critical information that they can figure out on their own just becuase the snot nosed 18 year old programmers reazlized "OMFG, I can actually make this do this with what I learned in C++ programming 101"!
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David is probably giving drivers too much credit. I am not familiar with what Volvo is doing, but it sounds like something to keep drivers from falling asleep at the wheel. It's not usually 18-year-olds or soccer moms who do that. It's usually people driving long hours, possibly people who get up too early to go to work without getting a good sleep. And it is a problem.
Posted by: Mark P | August 29, 2007 7:22 PM
call me crazy, but i DO see the value of alerting drivers to their erratic driving for one simple reason -- they may think they're driving fine and simply not be aware just how much they're really veering
it's like having a passenger to say "are you sure you're okay to drive?" (only without the social stigma that can lead to denial)
sure, i wouldn't want it in my car. but i don't want power locks or windows or cruise control, either
Posted by: skyotter | August 29, 2007 8:03 PM
There is even more nanny software like that in development:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823180503.htm
Posted by: oku | August 29, 2007 11:16 PM
Oh how much I could say about this topic after working on a grant proposal for studying vehicle collision warning systems. The idea of a Driver Alert Control or something similar is actually an extremely good one, considering how dangerous it is to drive, and the ridiculously high percentage of crashes that are due to eyes-off-the-road for > 2 seconds (i.e. nodding off).
That being said, I'm fairly certain Volvo's new gadget will still "annoy the piss" out of people because as noble as the idea is, the implementation is still a long ways from being satisfactory. One of the most significant problems you get with these systems is the high rate of false alarms, which leads to distrust in the automation, and ultimately the driver shutting it off if possible, or ignoring warnings altogether.
I'm glad Volvo had the sense to include an auditory alert, though I must say I'm not entirely happy with the (unphotoshopped) visual one. At least, I'm still trying to convince myself it's not a joke picture.
Posted by: Jennifer | August 29, 2007 11:26 PM
I'm going to jump on the David-bashing bandwagon here. An alerting system based on erratic driving (if it can do what it says it can do) would be a very nice feature for over-confident drivers. If it makes the difference between realizing you need a cup of coffee 5-10 minutes earlier than you would've figured it out, it could save some lives.
Jennifer's comment is super important too, though. It's unlikely that this system can live up to its stated goal, and a high rate of false alarms can make it essentially useless. Excessive false alarms, in addition to making the system useless, would provide a NEW distraction! Still, given the ever-present threat of lawsuits, I'm sure it works well enough to be, at worst, a non-factor.
Also, really, since when is David a human factors expert for something that isn't a helicopter?
Posted by: Brian | August 30, 2007 12:31 AM
David is a HF expert because he made fun of the system... it doesn't matter whether he's right or not ;)
hehehe
Posted by: Steve Higgins | August 30, 2007 9:42 AM
by the way.. the image wasn't even photoshopped... I was sooo ghetto I used paintshop!
Posted by: Steve Higgins | August 30, 2007 12:30 PM
Does it remind them to take their Mr. Happy Trucker pills?
Posted by: Shelley | August 31, 2007 1:54 AM