Exploring Non-Intrusive Interaction: An On-Road Experiement with Wizard-of-Oz Vehicle
Design Research Project
2021.11 - 2022.11
Skills: prototyping, experiment design, qualitative research, data analysis, project management,
Supervisors:Marieke Martens, Pavlo Bazilinskyy
Collaboration: Yuanzi Wang (Final Master Project)
This project is part of my PhD program, check more about my PhD journey 🎓
Modification of WoZ Vehicle
The Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) vehicle used in this study possessed by the Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology. It is a modified Renault Espace 2.0 and was initially designed and used in the studies by Dr. Juffrizal Karjanto and Dr. Nidzamuddin Yusof during their Ph.D. project (2018), investigating motion sickness in fully automated vehicles (SAE Level 5).
The original setup of the WoZ vehicle does not provide the experimental setup of level 3 to level 5 AVs, as the main focus of this study. Therefore, we modified the interior by adding a fake dashboard, steering wheel and pedals.
WoZ Technique
The WoZ technique aims to provide approachable and physical experience of not-yet-existing technologies, in this case, the feeling of sitting in the driver's seat of an AV.. The human driver drives the WoZ vehicle (wizard driver) was seated in the normal driver's seat. The back row of seats was used for the participants. A partition (6) was installed to ensure the wizard driver is invisible to the participants. A TV screen (7) was mounted to the partition, which is connected to a camera (3) mounted on the windshield, which could capture the front view. When sitting in the back seat, the participants could view the frontal view of the car in real time through the TV screen.
Methodology: Research through Design
Throughout this study, we employed the research-through-design (RtD) approach due to its reflective nature, which allows for the continuous interpretation and framing of a given situation. This approach involves a process of making and critiquing artifacts that function as proposed solutions. By creating tangile artifacts and conducting on-road qualitative study employing a WoZ vehicle, I explore the non-critical automated driving experience and gain insight into the iteration of non-intrusive interaction design.
Experiment & Result
Waiting for publication
Ackowledgement
This experiment is huge, and we could never have managed it without all the help from friends and colleagues. I would like to express my gratitude to everybody:
- all the participants who took part in this experiment
- d.search lab (Industrial Design department) for their assistance in developing and modifying the Mobility Lab and for their contributions to the preparation and execution of the experiment
- Henk Apeldoorn for support in the development of the fake steering wheel
- the wizard drivers: Jasper Sterk, Mayra Goevaerts, Marlen Braun, and Pedro Oliveira
- Anika Boelhouwer's feedback on the video analysis
- Erwin Meinders for support with practical matters
- Debargha Dey, Mathias Funk, Ruolin Guo, Benno Thijs, Thomas Marinissen, Frank Delbressine, Eden Chiang, Juffrizal Karjanto, and Nidzamuddin Yusof for their support