RE: Lenne13 Apr 2025 16:31
While modern cars feature a wealth of safety and infotainment features, drivers frequently find them annoying and distracting. Might the solution be for car makers to pay more heed to the human factor; the needs of the driver?
Dr Mike Lenné is chief safety officer at Seeing Machines, which specialises in driver monitoring technology designed to spot driver distraction. As a former Prof in Human Factors at Monash University’s Accident Research Centre, he’s also a renowned advocate of human factors research in automotive and is in no doubt: “It is ‘the’ silver bullet,” he says.
Lenné explains: “Human factors by definition is a profession that seeks to understand people, their abilities and limitations, and to incorporate that knowledge into the design of products they use and the environment in which they use them. So it’s critical.”
A perfect example of what happens when car makers fail to take account of human factors is best demonstrated by the prevalence of increasingly complicated touchscreen systems on dashboards, which can be difficult to use and distracting for drivers.
This was recently shown in a comprehensive test conducted by Auto Express on 10 of the most popular systems, to rate the worst and best performers (see table below).
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