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In order to improve the driver's experiences such as driving pleasure, it is important to evaluate the relationship between various vehicle characteristics and the driver's feeling. Although methods such as sensory subjective evaluation are commonly used, the mechanism behind them is not yet fully understood. In this paper we introduce a novel method for evaluating driving pleasure based on the numerical simulation of the driver's learning process. As an example of this method we evaluate the relationship between mechanical property of steering system and pleasure felt during the driver's learning process. One possible method to simulate the driver's learning process is machine learning. Reinforcement learning has been studied for simulating the human's brain function to learn [1]. We use machine learning to create the reinforcement learning driver model, and a simple vehicle simulation model which are combined as a human-vehicle model.

For reasons of convenience and safety, it is important to assess the drivers' workload while using in-vehicle devices. Recently, we proposed a new psychophysiological measure for assessing drivers' attention: eye-fixation-related-potential (EFRP). EFRP is a kind of event-related-brain potential (it were made of brain waves (EEG) and the electrooculographic (EOG)) measurable in normal driving. In the present study, we manipulated the cars' navigation system and measured the affect on drivers attention by measuring EFRPs. There were two tasks: a voice-activated task (the drivers manipulated the navigation system via voice) and a manual task (the drivers manipulated the navigation system by hand). The results showed that the amplitude of P100 component of EFRP during simulated and actual driving decreased greatly with the manual task when compared to the voice-activated task.

On-board voice-interaction systems such as a voice-activated system or a text -to-speech (TTS) system enable drivers to operate devices or to obtain desired information without relying on visual processes. These systems are aimed to reduce the driver's workload, but there is a concern about their possible effect on mental distraction. This paper describes driving simulator tests that were conducted to examine the potential influence of such systems on driver's mental distraction. The results obtained for all of the indices show that the mental distraction level when operating a voice-activated system is significantly lower than that of a traditional manually operated system.

A new telematics service has been launched by Nissan in the Japanese market that combines text-to-speech (TTS) technology with the communication function of a cellular phone. With this service, drivers operate their in-vehicle information system by simple voice commands, download news and the latest information from a portal site to the system via a cellular phone, and have the information read to them by the TTS synthesizer, thereby obtaining the desired information without relying on their visual processes. This paper describes the tests that were carried out in the course of developing the system to determine its potential influence on drivers' mental distraction. Tests were conducted with a driving simulator and an actual vehicle, with participation by twenty subjects, including five women. Both the driving simulator and actual vehicle were equipped with steering wheel buttons and an instrument panel LED that illuminated at random intervals during the driving tests.

This paper describes an integrated switch system by which the audio control system, air-conditioner control system and navigation control system can be operated with a smaller number of switches. This system resolves several issues resulting from the incorporation of information technology into vehicles, including the increased visual load due to the greater amount of information presented and the poorer operability resulting from increased functionality. A usability evaluation was conducted and the results indicated that the integrated switch system can reduce visual load.