Development of the Conceptual Prototype for Haptic Interface on the Telematics System

Driver safety and workload have become a crucial issue as the telematics system has evolved in a complex manner. To solve this problem, the aim of this study is to develop a conceptual prototype that supports haptic interface, an eye-free technology, with free navigation based on the user's mental model. The conceptual prototype for haptic interface is established through identifying the problems with previous haptic interface devices and defining functional requirements for the next generation telematics system. In addition, 25 criteria for a haptic device design are identified and applied to evaluate the conceptual prototype. These criteria are classified in a hierarchical order, and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) evaluation model is constructed accordingly. The AHP evaluation framework reveals critical factors as well as the degree of importance in designing the haptic device. As a result, an evaluation method has been developed for the prototype of the early phase of the haptic device design.