Automotive human-machine interface (HMI) design is facing new challenges due to the technological advances of the last decades. The design process has to be adapted in order to address human factors and road safety challenges. It is now widely accepted that user involvement in the HMI design process is valuable. However, the current form of user involvement in industry remains at the stages of concept assessment and usability tests. Moreover, the literature in other fields (e.g. information systems) promotes a broader user involvement with participatory design (i.e. the user is fully involved in the development process). This article reviews the established benefits of participatory design and reveals perspectives for automotive HMI quality improvement in a cognitive ergonomic framework. Practitioner Summary: Automotive HMI quality determines, in part, drivers' ability to perform primary driving tasks while using in-vehicle devices. User involvement in the design process is a key point to contribute to HMI quality. This article reports the potential benefits of a broad involvement from drivers to meet automotive HMI design challenges.

Existing literature does not draw conclusions as to which speedometer type is better for truck driving. A digital speedometer would be more beneficial when obtaining absolute and relative readings, while an analogue speedometer would be more efficient and less distracting when detecting dynamic speed changes. Redundant speedometers, which simultaneously present digital and analogue speedometers, appear increasingly in vehicles, but no information is available on their ergonomic qualities. This study compared three speedometers: digital speedometers, analogue speedometers, and redundant speedometers. This study compared the efficiency, usability and visual distraction measures for all three types of speedometers in a simulated truck driving setting. The task-dependant results were confirmed for the digital and analogue speedometer. The redundant speedometer combined the benefits of each type presented separately, which highlights interesting theoretical and applied implications.

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This study aims at increasing knowledge on the best way to design trucks' gauges on digital instrument clusters. Trucks are equipped with many gauges that the driver has to monitor while driving. Digital instrument clusters offer new design possibilities and the human factors literature presents only limited answers on safe and efficient gauge designs. Eighteen truck drivers were presented with eight gauges with different shapes, orientation and indicators to perform three reading tasks (quantitative, qualitative and check reading). Results showed that gauge design impacted task completion times, eyes on-gauge duration and satisfaction. Horizontal gauges and pointer indicators were more efficient and less demanding visually. On the subjective side, circular and horizontal gauges were preferred by drivers. Specific gauge designs implied a gain in visual demand up to 250ms. For the design of gauges on digital instrument cluster, information processing can be facilitated thanks to basic design changes.