Effect of Driving Context on Design Dialogue

Theautomotivesectoriscurrentlyundergoingdramatictechnological and sociological advances which challenge the traditional design process, and which appear to require a more intimate understanding of owner needs and desires. The use of a real-time communication link between designers and the people who are in the automobiles could become a key component of an inno‐ vative automobile design process. The research described here consisted of an investigation of the influence of driving context (country road, motorway or city road) on the real-time verbal exchange between a driver and a designer who asked questions about the automobile and driving experience. Twenty university students and staff were recruited for the tests. A psychologically optimized ques‐ tion set was prepared, and was deployed with each participant as the individual drove the simulator on the target road. The research confirmed the dependency on the driving context of both the quantity of exchanged words and their semiotic content.