Application of Multi-Tiered Approach in Validating UI Based Animation in Automotive Product

As part of their market segmentation strategy, each OEM is using UX (user experience) as a crucial aspect for product differentiation. Though there are many parts to UX, the one which would have a profound effect on the user is through animation of real-world aspects on the instrument panel, like falling snowflakes when it’s snowing outside, real time traffic conditions as part of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) or even a unique welcome or farewell message. The unique and realistic nature of such implementations and customizing it to the needs of market segments introduces a lot of complexity in evaluating the correctness of implementation with respect to design. This paper extensively evaluates the current practices in analyzing the test basis, test environment needs, test data, and test methods used in testing animation. The primary focus of this paper is to introduce a novel multi-tiered approach to evaluating animations - presenting a framework for selecting test methods and determining their level of depth, based on the complexity of the animation, particularly in relation to dynamic interactions from various input parameters. The novelty of this framework lies in the ability to act as a comprehensive guide to test animations, starting from basic animations like single visual object fade in and fade out to the most complex animations involving various combinatorial input signals simultaneously by introducing a layered mathematical approach in analyzing the animation with respect to reference. This involves applying various industry-leading concepts on intensity levels, pattern match, interpolation techniques - along with statistically evaluating the best techniques for a given context and lastly aiding the test engineer in visualizing product behavior in an automated way.