Passengers spend considerable periods of time in shared transit spaces, relying on smartphones and laptops for work. However, these displays are limited in size and ergonomics compared to typical multi-monitor setups used in the office, impairing productivity. Augmented Reality (AR) headsets could provide large, flexible virtual workspaces during travel, enabling passengers to work more efficiently. This paper investigates the factors affecting how passengers choose to layout virtual displays in car, train, subway and plane environments, studying the affordances of each mode of transport and the presence of others. Results from our experiment showed: significant usage of the physical environment to align displays; strong social effects meant avoiding placing displays over other passengers or their belongings; and use of displays for shielding oneself from others. Our findings show the unique challenges posed by the mode of transport and presence of others on the use of AR for mobile productivity in the future.

Augmented / Mixed Reality headsets will in-time see adoption and use in a variety of mobility and transit contexts, allowing users to view and interact with virtual content and displays for productivity and entertainment. However, little is known regarding how multi-display virtual workspaces should be presented in a transit context, nor to what extent the unique affordances of transit environments (e.g. the social presence of others) might influence passenger perception of virtual display layouts. Using a simulated VR passenger airplane environment, we evaluated three different AR-driven virtual display configurations (Horizontal, Vertical, and Focus main display with smaller secondary windows) at two different depths, exploring their usability, user preferences, and the underlying factors that influenced those preferences. We found that the perception of invading other’s personal space significantly influenced preferred layouts in transit contexts. Based on our findings, we reflect on the unique challenges posed by passenger contexts, provide recommendations regarding virtual display layout in the confined airplane environment, and expand on the significant benefits that AR offers over physical displays in said environments.

An in-car study was conducted to examine different input techniques for list-based scrolling tasks and the effectiveness of haptic feedback for in-car touchscreens. The use of physical switchgear on centre consoles is decreasing which allows designers to develop new ways to interact with in-car applications. However, these new methods need to be evaluated to ensure they are usable. Therefore, three input techniques were tested: direct scrolling, pressure-based scrolling and scrolling using onscreen buttons on a touchscreen. The results showed that direct scrolling was less accurate than using onscreen buttons and pressure input, but took almost half the time when compared to the onscreen buttons and was almost three times quicker than pressure input. Vibrotactile feedback did not improve input performance but was preferred by the users. Understanding the speed vs. accuracy trade-off between these input techniques will allow better decisions when designing safer in-car interfaces for scrolling applications.

This paper explores the use of VR Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) in-car and in-motion for the first time. Immersive HMDs are becoming everyday consumer items and, as they offer new possibilities for entertainment and productivity, people will want to use them during travel in, for example, autonomous cars. However, their use is confounded by motion sickness caused in-part by the restricted visual perception of motion conflicting with physically perceived vehicle motion (accelerations/rotations detected by the vestibular system). Whilst VR HMDs restrict visual perception of motion, they could also render it virtually, potentially alleviating sensory conflict. To study this problem, we conducted the first on-road and in motion study to systematically investigate the effects of various visual presentations of the real-world motion of a car on the sickness and immersion of VR HMD wearing passengers. We established new baselines for VR in-car motion sickness, and found that there is no one best presentation with respect to balancing sickness and immersion. Instead, user preferences suggest different solutions are required for differently susceptible users to provide usable VR in-car. This work provides formative insights for VR designers and an entry point for further research into enabling use of VR HMDs, and the rich experiences they offer, when travelling.

The way drivers operate in-car systems is rapidly changing as traditional physical controls, such as buttons and dials, are being replaced by touchscreens and touch-sensing surfaces. This has the potential to increase driver distraction and error as controls may be harder to find and use. This paper presents an in-car, on the road driving study which examined three key types of input controls to investigate their effects: a physical dial, pressure-based input on a touch surface and touch input on a touchscreen. The physical dial and pressure-based input were also evaluated with and without haptic feedback. The study was conducted with users performing a list-based targeting task using the different controls while driving on public roads. Eye-gaze was recorded to measure distraction from the primary task of driving. The results showed that target accuracy was high across all input methods (greater than 94%). Pressure-based targeting was the slowest while directly tapping on the targets was the faster selection method. Pressure-based input also caused the largest number of glances towards to the touchscreen but the duration of each glance was shorter than directly touching the screen. Our study will enable designers to make more appropriate design choices for future in-car interactions.

The way drivers interact with in-car centre console controls is undergoing radical change as physical switchgear are replaced by virtual counterparts with the use of touchscreens. This provides the opportunity to design new input techniques to improve the way on-screen widgets are operated in driving situations. This paper investigates the effectiveness of pressure-based input with haptic feedback as an alternative touch modality for in-car interactions. Two user studies were conducted: one using a driving simulator and the other inside a vehicle driven on public roads, to evaluate two main pressure-based input techniques: positional and rate-based control. The results from a list-based targeting task showed that rate-based control performed well and was comparable to standard touch input and the physical dial while users had difficulties with positional pressure input. These findings from our studies will help engineers make more appropriate design decisions when developing in-car interactions with touchscreens and touch surfaces.

Infotainment Systems can increase mental workload and divert visual attention away from looking ahead on the roads. When these systems give information to the driver, providing it through the tactile channel on the steering wheel might improve driving behaviour and safety. This paper describes an investigation into the perceivability of haptic feedback patterns using an actuated surface on a steering wheel. Six solenoids were embedded along the rim creating three bumps under each palm. A simulated driving study was conducted to test for recognition accuracy of the haptic patterns (81.3%). There was no significant increase in lane deviation or steering angle during haptic pattern presentation. These results suggest that drivers can reliably distinguish between cutaneous patterns presented on the steering wheel. Our findings can assist in delivering non-critical messages to the driver (e.g. driving performance, incoming text messages, etc.) without decreasing driving performance or increasing perceived mental workload.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of mobility and encumbrance (holding objects such as shopping bags) on standard gestures commonly performed on touchscreens: tapping, dragging, spreading & pinching and rotating clockwise & anticlockwise when completed using a two-handed input posture. These one- and two- finger on-screen gesture inputs have become common but previous research has only examined tapping performance in everyday walking and encumbered situations. Therefore, a series of Fitts' Law style targeting tasks was designed to measure the performance of each gesture with users walking only and walking while carrying bags. The results showed that encumbrance and walking had a negative impact on each gesture in terms of accuracy except for rotational actions, which were performed well. Tapping and dragging both performed poorly which shows the input difficulties of single finger interactions when encumbered and on the move. Our findings will help designers choose the appropriate input techniques for future mobile user interfaces and apps in physically demanding contexts.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of encumbrance (carrying typical objects such as shopping bags during interaction) and walking on target acquisition on a touchscreen mobile phone. Users often hold objects and use mobile devices at the same time and we examined the impact encumbrance has on one- and two- handed interactions. Three common input postures were evaluated: two-handed index finger, one-handed preferred thumb and two-handed both thumbs, to assess the effects on performance of carrying a bag in each hand while walking. The results showed a significant decrease in targeting performance when users were encumbered. For example, input accuracy dropped to 48.1% for targeting with the index finger when encumbered, while targeting error using the preferred thumb to input was 4.2mm, an increase of 40% compared to unencumbered input. We also introduce a new method to evaluate the user's preferred walking speed when interacting - PWS&I, and suggest future studies should use this to get a more accurate measure of the user's input performance.

The popularity of touchscreen mobile devices gives users a variety of useful apps and functionality on the move. As a result, mobile devices are being used in a range of different contexts. One common scenario that has received little attention from researchers is the effects of encumbrance carrying objects (for example, shopping bags and personal gear) and interacting with mobile devices at the same time. This is a frequent everyday situation and one that can cause interaction difficulties [3]. There is a lack of knowledge of the impact encumbrance has on interaction therefore the usability issues in these physically and mentally demanding contexts are unknown. Prior to the start of our research, there was only one related study that has examined input performance with handheld devices while multitasking with different types of objects [7]. A better understanding of the interaction problems caused by encumbrance would allow researchers to develop more effective input techniques on touchscreen mobile devices.

In this paper, two walking evaluation methods were compared to evaluate the effects of encumbrance while the preferred walking speed (PWS) is controlled. Users frequently carry cumbersome objects (e.g. shopping bags) and use mobile devices at the same time which can cause interaction difficulties and erroneous input. The two methods used to control the PWS were: walking on a treadmill and walking around a predefined route on the ground while following a pacesetter. The results from our target acquisition experiment showed that for ground walking at 100% of PWS, accuracy dropped to 36% when carrying a bag in the dominant hand while accuracy reduced to 34% for holding a box under the dominant arm. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of each evaluation method when examining encumbrance and suggest treadmill walking is not the most suitable approach to use if walking speed is an important factor in future mobile studies.