Experimental investigation of display reading tasks in vehicles and consequences for instrument panel design

With the increasing number of information systems, the display reading task in vehicles is becoming very important for reasons of traffic safety. Taking into account the vehicle-specific reading situation with only partial accommodation and adaption of the eye to the instrument panel, specific design guidelines are necessary. Experimental results are reported which analyze the reading process under simulated and real traffic conditions and measure reading time (eye movement recording) and reading errors under different viewing conditions. Interesting parameters were 1. Character size and contrast, 2. position of display (peripheral legibility or conspicuity), 3. information type (analogue, digital). Consequences are formulated especially for electronic display technology which will dominate in future automotive panels.