08 Mar 2007
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A car dashboard
A major car manufacturer required specialist human factors advice on the suitability of various switches and controls for their next generation fleet and recommendations for car dashboard layout.
The ATC was contracted to provide the necessary guidance. A two-pronged approach was adopted. In some cases, guidance could easily be provided by reference to human factors standards and texts. In other cases, it was necessary to undertake experiments to quantify the pros and cons of various Human Machine Interface (HMI) options. This was achieved simply and quickly by building a suitably representative mock-up and conducting brief, well controlled experiments. Various measures of human performance were recorded and analysed statistically during these experiments. The net output was scientifically valid recommendations that could be used to inform future designs of car fascias.
