A Simulation Study Examining Smartphone Destination Entry while Driving

Abstract

A driving simulation study was performed to compare visual-manual (touch screen based) destination entry using a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone with the standard voice command based interface and a voice based "Hands-Free mode" that appears to be intended for use while driving (i.e. has a steering wheel icon adjacent to the mode selection menu and the voice interface menu screen is visually austere when compared with the standard voice mode). The performance of 24 drivers on an alphanumeric street address entry task was assessed with respect to subjective workload, task duration, standard deviation of lateral lane position, response to a detection response task (DRT), and heart rate. With the exception of heart rate, all evaluation measures indicate that the voice interfaces provide significant advantages over the touch interface. Furthermore, subjective workload ratings and task duration measures imply that the "Hands-Free" voice based mode may have some costs relative to the standard voice command based interface. Lastly, all destination entry methods were associated with an increased DRT reaction time and higher miss-rates compared to a baseline driving condition.