Research Overview

My research is in the area of human-computer interaction (HCI) in vehicles. Specifically, I work on finding suitable metrics for characterizing (benchmarking) the influence of in-vehicle interfaces on driving performance and visual attention in particular and cognitive load in general. The following factors play a very important role in estimating the above influences: 

• interaction modality, 
• user interface characteristics, 
• driving environment characteristics.

The research is performed in our state-of-the-art, high-fidelity driving simulator, shown in the picture below. Here is a short presentation describing the capabilities of our simulator.

 Project54 driving simulator

Another piece of equipment that is crucial to our driving simulator lab is an eye tracker. It allows us to measure various aspects of visual attention, such as the amount of time drivers spend looking away from the road, gaze patterns, fixations, etc.

Publications 

2012

• Andrew L. Kun, Zeljko Medenica. "Video Call, or not, that is the Question," Extended abstracts, To appear at CHI 2012, Austin, TX, USA
  

2011

• Garrett Weinberg, Bret Harsham, Zeljko Medenica. "Evaluating the Usability of a Head-Up Display for Selection from Choice Lists in Cars," AutomotiveUI 2011, Salzburg, Austria
• Andrew L. Kun, Zeljko Medenica, Oskar Palinko, Peter A. Heeman. "Utilizing Pupil Diameter to Estimate Cognitive Load Changes During Human Dialogue: A Preliminary Study," Cognitive Load and In-Vehicle Human-Machine Interaction Workshop at AutomotiveUI 2011, Salzburg, Austria
  
• Zeljko Medenica, Andrew L. Kun, Tim Paek, Oskar Palinko. “Augmented Reality vs. Street Views: A Driving Simulator Study Comparing Two Emerging Navigation Aids,” Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2011), Stockholm, Sweden
  
• Garrett Weinberg, Bret Harsham, Zeljko Medenica. “Investigating HUDs for the presentation of Choice Lists in Car Navigation Systems,” Driving Assessment 2011, Lake Tahoe, CA, USA