Thermal Feedback for In-Car Applications

This project, which was funded by Jaguar Land Rover and the EPRSC, investigated thermal feedback in cars.

In modern cars, most of the information is presented to the driver in visual form, frequently on the centre console, but taking the visual attention off the road contributes to crashes and near-crash incidents. Auditory feedback is often described as disruptive during conversations. Haptic feedback, on the other hand, can be presented unobtrusively and can increase reaction times, especially when used with other feedback modalities. In this project, we explore new ways of haptic interacting in the car: thermal feedback. Vibration can be hard to use due to the natural vibration of the car during driving and because the source of the vibration can be hard to pinpoint on a steering wheel. Thermal interaction does not share this disadvantage.

In the project thermal feedback has been explored for directional cues and notifications.

A press release by Jaguar Land Rover illustrates the use of thermal feedback for navigation.

Publications

Purring Wheel: Thermal and Vibrotactile Notifications on the Steering Wheel, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito, Frank Pollick, Simon Thompson, Lee Skrypchuk, Alexandros Mouzakitis and Stephen Brewster
In Proceedings of 22nd ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction – ICMI ’20
https://doi.org/10.1145/3382507.3418825. Link

Haptic Feedback for the Transfer of Control in Autonomous Vehicles, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito, Edward Brown, Frank Pollick, Simon Thompson, Lee Skrypchuk, Alexandros Mouzakitis and Stephen Brewster
In Adjunct Proceedings of the 12th International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications – AutoUI ’20,
https://doi.org/10.1145/3409251.3411717. Link

Thermal Feedback for Simulated Lane Change Scenarios, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito, Frank Pollick, Stuart White, Lee Skrypchuk, Alexandros Mouzakitis and Stephen Brewster
Special Issue of the International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction (IJMHCI): Recent Advances in Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications Research (2019),
https://doi.org/10.4018/IJMHCI.2019040103.

Haptic Navigation Cues on the Steering Wheel, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito, Gözel Shakeri,
Frank Pollick, Edward Brown, Lee Skrypchuk, Alexandros Mouzakitis and Stephen Brewster
In Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – CHI ’19,
https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300440. Link

Investigation of Thermal Stimuli for Lane Changes, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito, Frank Pollick, Stuart White, Lee Skrypchuk, Alexandros Mouzakitis and Stephen Brewster
In Proceedings of the 10th International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications – AutoUI ’18,
https://doi.org/10.1145/3239060.3239062. Link

Thermal In-Car Interaction for Navigation, Patrizia Di Campli San Vito,
Frank Pollick, Stuart White and Stephen Brewster
In Proceedings of the 19th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction – ICMI ’17 (Demonstration),
https://doi.org/10.1145/3136755.3143029. Link