Optimizing Connected Vehicle Content Strategy for Drivers

Existing automotive infotainment and telematics systems are increasingly feature-rich; they are simultaneously more densely packed with information and more complicated in terms of human-machine interactions. This complexity negatively impacts the situational awareness (SA) of the driver, and contributes to driver distraction. With the proliferation of tablets and smart phones, automotive mobile applications are growing in popularity; however, their content has been confined to a limited subset of vehicle information and control functions. Phone projection systems such as Apple CarPlay™ allow in-vehicle consumption of phone-based media but offer no improvement for the rest of connected vehicle features. The author proposes a content strategy to significantly reduce in-vehicle system complexity and elevate driver SA. Offloading to the mobile device many of the tasks normally required in-vehicle, the strategy allows the connected vehicle system to reduce choices presented to the driver, simplifying interactions and improving driver performance.