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This paper presents the results of an experimental study conducted to evaluate the effects of four material characteristics and two driver characteristics on the perception of automotive interior materials. The perceptual characteristics of the materials were measured using two sensing conditions, namely, visual sensing only and combined visual and tactile sensing. The experiments were conducted using the Taguchi's L16 orthogonal array with seven independent variables, namely material type, surface roughness, compressibility, driver's age, driver's gender, and sensing method. Twenty-four subjects participated in the experiments. Each subject was asked to evaluate four treatment combinations and provide ratings using seven 5-point semantic differential scales. In addition, physical measurements were made on surface roughness, coefficient of friction, and compressibility.

The automotive interior suppliers are challenged to develop materials, that not only perform functionally, but also provide the right combination sensory experience (e.g. visual appeal, tactile feeling) and brand differentiation at very competitive costs. Therefore, the objective of this research presented in this paper is to develop a methodology that can be used to measure customer perception of interior materials and to come up with a unique system for assessing value of different interior materials. The overall methodology involves the application of a number of psychophysical measurement methods (e.g. Semantic Differential Scaling) and statistical methods to assess: 1) overall customer perceived quality of materials, 2) elements (or attributes) of perception, and 3) value of materials from OEM's viewpoint in terms of the measurement of perception of quality divided by a measure of cost.

A fixed base driving simulator called the VVDS (Virtual Vehicle Driving Simulator), its operating procedure and software system have been developed by a team of automotive suppliers (called ACE -- Advanced Cockpit Enabler) for quick evaluations of early working prototypes of driver interfaces. The system is designed to provide quick feedback to the product designers in early concept generation and validation phases of new automotive HMI architecture strategies and interfaces of various in-vehicle devices. The simulator consists of a reconfigurable cab with quick-change attachments to mount various controls and displays in package positions. A number of drivers are asked to drive the simulator and perform a number of tasks when prompted by pre-recorded voice commands. The entire data collection and data analysis procedure is developed such that new experiments can be configured, implemented and analyzed quickly and with the least amount of a human analyst’s involvement.

This paper present a unique and comprehensive design process that has been pilot tested to assure that future automotive cockpit systems are well integrated, cost effective and they achieve superior ergonomics performance. With ever increasing possibilities of new technological feature content and tremendous cost pressures, the auto manufacturers have a challenging task to provide the customers with the latest features at affordable costs in shorter design cycles. The Automotive Cockpit Enablers (ACE) team consisting of seven automotive suppliers and two universities has created a unique process to approach the problem. The process consists of a series of steps and inter-workings of three cross-functional teams.