A Usability Study of In-Car VR Contents: Investigating the Impact of Design Factors

Abstract

With the development in autonomous driving technology, the range of activities that can be conducted in a vehicle increases, increasing the possibility of using head-mounted displays (HMDs) to view virtual reality (VR) content. However, in-car VR provides a different experience from using an HMD in a stationary room due to the vehicle's rotations or vibrations and is characterized in that the outside view is blocked while the vehicle is driving. Therefore, in this study, for the first time, we evaluate whether the road environment that causes dynamic changes in the vehicle movement, such as turning, stopping, and bumps, affects the in-car VR usability. Additionally, we investigate how the design elements used to develop in-car VR content affect usability in driving routes, including various road environments. In the main experiment of this study, 30 participants rode in the passenger seat of a vehicle wearing an HMD. Consequently, when the in-car VR content used situation awareness offering, interaction, and distraction, no statistically significant user experience (UX) decline was observed compared to basic baseline content. Instead, we observed the possibility of UX improvement.