Technical Paper
Distribution of In-Vehicle Task Element Times for Determining Task Distraction and Ease of Use
2024-04-09
2024-01-2505
Often, when assessing the distraction or ease of use of an in-vehicle task (such as entering a destination using the street address method), the first question is “How long does the task take, on average.” Mean static (while parked) task times can be estimated by summing times for the included task elements (e.g., press a button) from SAE J2365 or similar datasets. Times for the occlusion conditions in J2365 and the NHTSA Distraction Guidelines can be determined using Pettit’s Method or Purucker’s Method. These first approximations of mean task times are reasonable and can be determined quickly. The next question usually is “How likely is it that the task will exceed some limit.” Discrete event simulations such as IMPRINT can provide the answer. Unfortunately, those simulations require the distribution types and parameters (mean, standard deviation, etc.) for each task element, which generally are not available in the published literature for in-vehicle tasks (e.g., SAE J2365).