• Drivers Research In Motion Others Must
• Drivers Research In Motion Others Knowing
• Drivers Research In Motion Others Perceive

A new gesture control system could change the way we use in-car infotainment. Stuart Nathan reports

The best way to avoid being distracted while driving is simply to keep your eyes on the road. But human nature dictates that drivers want to do other things. So many people have become accustomed to the conveniences of smartphones – from being able to consult constantly-updated information to simply keeping in touch with people via social networking, while having your full library of music at your fingertips – that they are unwilling to give this up, even while in control of several tonnes of high-speed metal. The covergence of satnav with smartphones is another contributing factor.

So, as people are going to use infotainment while driving anyway, what’s the best way to allow them to do that safely? In-car audio specialist Harman, which provides systems for marques such as BMW, Audi, Jeep and Ferrari, is trying to come up with solutions to the problem.

Different car makers have different preferred options. For example, Volkswagen likes having touch-screens. But these have to be placed high in the dashboard so that the driver’s eye can flick easily and quickly from the screen to the road. The layout of the cabin means that the screen is therefore a considerable distance from the driver – further than he or she can reach by just taking a hand off the wheel. So as well as taking your eyes momentarily from the road, you have to lean forward a bit.

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Audi, meanwhile, prefers a system with a screen that doesn’t respond to touch, and a separate controller placed near to the shift lever or gearstick, which can be operated simply by the driver dropping his or her hand downwards without otherwise changing position. This can be a twist controller – a knob that moves a cursor down a list of options on a viewscreen – or a touch-sensitive pad. For example, the destination for a satnav can be selected by drawing the initial letter of the placename onto the surface of the pad – p for paris, say – then using the twist knob to move through options. Although this generally entails looking away from the road for longer, the ability to remain in the driving position is seen as safer than having to move while looking at the screen.

Furthermore, in many other situations we can describe motion accurately by assuming a constant acceleration equal to the average acceleration for that motion. Lastly, for motion during which acceleration changes drastically, such as a car accelerating to top speed and then braking to a stop, motion can be considered in separate parts, each of. Other steps that discourage driving Graduated driver licensing requirements adopted in recent years by state governments have likely played a small but important role in causing young people to delay or forgo getting a driver’s license, potentially encouraging Millennials to develop less car-dependent transportation habits that they may carry.

One answer is to borrow a bit of technology that was introduced by the defence sector some decades ago: the head-up display (HUD). If it helps fighter pilots keeps their attention where it belongs, surely it can do the same for car drivers? The principle is straighforward: show the vital information in the same area that the driver is looking, on the windscreen itself. But in practice it’s not that simple: the information still has to be shown in such a way that it doesn’t obscure safety-critical parts of the windscreen, and there still needs to be a way for the driver to interact with the information – select items of importance, activate functions and so on – in such a way that it doesn’t break their concentration.

Harman’s answer to this is to combine a head-up display with gesture control. Currently only embodied as a demonstration unit and not yet incorporated into a car, the system projects a display onto an angled glass sheet placed on top of the dashboard – it functions something like an autocue, although in a car it would project onto the windscreen.

“To turn the music in the car down, the driver places his or her hand above a control knob by the gear selector and moves it up or down sharply. To turn it off, you make a gesture like patting an invisible dog, twice

Drivers Research In Motion Others Must

The information on the display is integrated with displays on the dashboard and on the instrument console, but what is displayed on the HUD varies. When driving, for example, it will only display information vital to the task (that is, not phone calls). A camera in the front of the car works as a machine vision device, measuring the distance to the vehicle in front. Information such as direction arrows for satnav, the current speed limit of the road and the car’s speed are displayed ‘on the road’ between the front of the car and the vehicle in front.

The infotainment system incorporates a wi-fi hotspot so that it can stream traffic news and weather reports. This information is displayed on the dashboard display, but can be moved up to the HUD using gesture control. This uses a system similar to the Microsoft Kinect gaming console: sensors in the dashboard monitor the driver’s movements, recognising specific programmed gestures. For example, to turn the music in the car down, the driver places his or her hand above a control knob by the gear selector and moves it up or down sharply. To turn it off, you make a gesture like patting an invisible dog, twice.

When the car is stationary, functions such as the phone are enabled. If someone rings, an icon for the caller is displayed at the lower left-hand side of the HUD. To answer the call, you point to the icon. To dismiss it, you sweep it away. Similarly, information such as weather conditions can be swept up from the dashboard onto the HUD. The advantage of this, according to Harman, is that the driver’s eyes never have to refocus; all the vital information is displayed at a convenient distance, making use of peripheral vision but not requiring any change in attention.

The system also works as an alarm. For example, when the front camera system detects that the car is too close to the vehicle in front for the speed at which it’s travelling, it displays a warning signal on the HUD (the direction arrow for the satnav turns red) and it can also sound an audible alarm. Similar warnings can also be set if the car drifts out of its lane. Further sensors on the side of the car detect vehicles in the driver’s blind spot and provide another HUD alert.

Just to add a level of in-car comfort, the system also has a driver-facing camera equipped with face-recognition system, which can be programmed for regular drivers. Nucamp riverside. This automatically sets up the car for a particular driver’s preferred settings, such as their seat position, steering wheel rake, ideal temperature and favoured radio stations.

Harman is currently demonstrating the system at specialist exhibitions and to its regular customers, and is optimistic that it could be on the market within five years. ‘It’s a totally logical step for us,’ said vice-president for infotainment and lifestyle Michael Mauser. ‘The automotive sector is moving towards greater in-car connectivity and Harman is ideally positioned to make this technology part of the smart, responsive control systems.’

The system is, in fact, surprisingly intuitive, in much the same way that a touch-screen tablet turns out to be easy to use. Although it’s impossible to replicate the demands of driving in a static display, the visual feedback of moving display items from HUD to dashboard and back while making simple gestures is easy to understand and quickly becomes second nature, without the need to take your hands off the wheel for longer than it would take to change gear or switch on the headlights, for example.

What springs to mind is the gesture-controlled display device in the film Minority Report, where unneeded items can be swept out of the way. Although Minority Report also had flying cars, and while Harman’s system is futuristic, it’s not that futuristic.

Drive Theory Definition

Drive refers to increased arousal and internal motivation to reach a particular goal. Psychologists differentiate between primary and secondary drives. Primary drives are directly related to survival and include the need for food, water, and oxygen. Secondary or acquired drives are those that are culturally determined or learned, such as the drive to obtain money, intimacy, or social approval. Drive theory holds that these drives motivate people to reduce desires by choosing responses that will most effectively do so. For instance, when a person feels hunger, he or she is motivated to reduce that drive by eating; when there is a task at hand, the person is motivated to complete it.

Drive Theory Background

Clark L. Hull is the most prominent figure from whom this comprehensive drive theory of learning and motivation was postulated. The theory itself was founded on very straightforward studies of rat behavior done by Hull’s students, Charles T. Perm and Stanley B. Williams. The rats were trained to run down a straight alley way to a food reward. Thereafter, two groups of rats were deprived of food, one group for 3 hours and the other for 22. Hull proposed that the rats that were without food the longest would have more motivation, thus a higher level of drive to obtain the food reward at the end of the maze. Furthermore, he hypothesized that the more times an animal was rewarded for running down the alley, the more likely the rat was to develop the habit of running. As expected, Hull and his students found that length of deprivation and number of times rewarded resulted in a faster running speed toward the reward. His conclusion was that drive and habit equally contribute to performance of whichever behavior is instrumental in drive reduction.

Drivers Research In Motion Others Knowing

Drive Theory Application to Social Psychology

When a person is hungry or thirsty, he or she feels tension and is motivated to reduce this state of discomfort by eating or drinking. A state of tension can also occur when a person is watched by other people or simultaneously holds psychologically inconsistent beliefs or thoughts. The theory of cognitive dissonance, proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger, suggests that when a person is faced with two beliefs or thoughts that are contradictory, he or she feels psychological tension. This psychological tension is a negative drive state that is similar to hunger or thirst. Once a person feels cognitive dissonance, he or she is motivated to reduce this psychological tension, modifying beliefs or thoughts to match one another.

An interesting application of drive theory to social psychology is found in Robert Zajonc’s explanation of the social facilitation effect, which suggests that when there is social presence, people tend to perform simple tasks better and complex tasks worse (social inhibition) than they would if they were alone. The basis for social facilitation comes from social psychologist Norman Triplett, who observed that bicyclists rode faster when competing against each other directly than in individual time trials. Zajonc reasoned that this phenomenon is a function of humans’ perceived difficulty of the task and their dominant responses: those that are most likely given the skills humans have. When drives are activated, people are likely to rely on their easily accessible dominant response, or as Hull would suggest, their habits. Therefore, if the task comes easy to them, their dominant response is to perform well. However, if the task is perceived as difficult, the dominant response will likely result in a poor performance. For instance, imagine a ballet dancer who was ill-practiced and often made several errors during her routine. According to drive theory, when in the presence of others at her recital, she will display her dominant response, which is to make mistakes even more so than when alone. However, if she spent a substantial amount of time polishing her performance, drive theory would suggest that she may have the best performance of her dancing career (which she might never match in solitude).

Behavioral and social psychological perspectives, although addressing different phenomena, share an important similarity. Humans experience arousal (drive) to achieve a particular goal; habits (or dominant responses) dictate the means for reaching that goal. With enough practice, the perceived difficulty of a task will decrease, and people are likely to perform better.

How can the simple presence of other people in our environment affect our behavior? We can never be sure how others will react to us. Will they evaluate, admire, or judge us? From an evolutionary standpoint, because we do not know how people will respond to us, it is advantageous for individuals to be aroused in the presence of others. Our instinctive drive to notice and react to other social beings provides the foundation of Zajonc’s drive theory. For instance, imagine walking down the street late at night when you see a dark shadow approaching you. You will likely prepare yourself for this unexpected encounter. Your heart rate will increase, you might run, or you may even choose to socialize. Nonetheless, Zajonc maintains that your impulse is to become socially aware of those in your proximity whose intentions are unknowable.

What does another’s presence make people feel? One theory suggested by social psychologist Nickolas B. Cottrell includes an evaluation apprehension model. This model suggests that humans experience arousal in the form of anxiety because of the fear of being evaluated or judged by those around them. In several experiments, it was found that the drive to present oneself as capable to avoid negative evaluation was nonexistent when the audience was blindfolded; thus, they were inattentive to the task at hand. When the audience was attentive to the task, however, instinctive drive promoted better performance.

Drive Theory Implications

Drive theory combines motivation, learning, reinforcement, and habit formation to explain and predict human behavior. It describes where drives come from, what behaviors result from these drives, and how these behaviors are sustained. Drive theory is also important in understanding habit formation as a result of learning and reinforcement. For instance, to alter bad habits, such as drug use (which can be seen as a way to reduce the drive for euphoria), an understanding of how habits are created is essential; drive theory offers this insight.

Drivers Research In Motion Others Perceive

In addition, drive theory as an explanation of instinctive arousal in the presence of others is apparent in people’s daily lives. Because humans do not exist in a vacuum, it is imperative that they understand how others influence them: their performance, their self-concept, and the impressions they make on the social world.

References:

1. Cottrell, N. B., Wack, D. L., Sekerak, G. J., & Rittle, R. H. (1968). Social facilitation of dominant responses by the presence of an audience and the mere presence of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 245-250.
2. Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
3. Platania, J., & Moran, G. P. (2001). Social facilitation as a function of mere presence of others. Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 190-197.
4. Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social facilitation. Science, 149, 269-274.