Comparison of extensive vs. confirmation haptic interfaces with two levels of disruptive tasks

In the car environment there are more and more complex infotainment systems, which are used with touchscreens, even by driver while driving the car. While it is known that secondary tasks have a negative impact to the driving safety, there is a lack of information, if haptics can be used to make this interaction safer. In this study we compared two haptically enhanced user interfaces with two levels of user distraction: Commonly used confirmation haptic interface, and extensive haptic interface, where all possible information was provided with haptics. In the experiment participants entered four-digit numbers, while driving or watching video. Input speed, input error rate, driving errors and subjective experiences were recorded. The results showed that there were no significant performance differences between the user interfaces, but the extensive haptic interface helped to reduce the number of driving errors. Participants did not have significant preference differences between the user interfaces.