Human Factors & Industrial Engineering

Those that specialize in human factors and industrial engineering promote the discovery and exchange of knowledge concerning the characteristics of human beings that are applicable to the design of systems and devices. The practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds including psychologists (engineering, cognitive, perceptual, and experimental), physiologists, designers (industrial, interaction, and graphic), anthropologists, communication specialists and computer scientists.

Human factors practitioners explore the relationship and functions between humans and machines including individuals that serve as operators, maintainers or users in the system. Designing interactive systems involving people, machines and their environments help ensure effectiveness, safety, and ease of use. Whether the researcher’s interest is in cognitive ergonomics, usability, human computer/human machine interaction, and user experience engineering, for many an automobile provides an ideal laboratory.

A driving simulator provides a consistent environment to assess human to machine interactions. The programmable nature of an advanced driving simulator will allow researchers to control traffic, weather, light, road surface friction, obstructions, road design, traffic signals, cultural representation, as well as rare, real-world driving events. The driving simulator is able collect the data the researchers desire including speed, lane position and reaction times. The researchers are also able to connect bio-feedback sensors to their subject to collect information like heart rate, eye and head positions, and perspiration and to correlate the data with the exact timing and events within the driving simulator.

In driving a vehicle, the operator receives inputs from a variety of sources: outside the vehicle (sounds and visual cues from traffic, obstructions, and signals) and from displays inside the vehicle (such as the speedometer and various indicators). The driver must continually evaluate this information, decide on courses of action, and translates those decisions into actions upon the vehicle's controls. The human executes these decisions through the vehicle control mechanisms, namely the steering wheel, accelerator and brake as well as the horn, head lights and turn signals. Added to this are environmental factors such as noise, fumes, and temperature.

An advanced driving simulator gives the subject-matter expert a laboratory to study and apply what is known about human capabilities and limitations into the design of cars, car input processes, accessibility, and all the complex tasks associated with driving a car.

The human factors and industrial engineer can leverage a driving simulator as part of the product or systems development process:

• Requirement specifications including evaluating predecessor systems and operator tasks, analyzing user needs, analyzing and allocating functions, and analyzing tasks and associated workload.
• Design efforts including evaluating alternative designs through the use of equipment mockups and software prototypes, performing usability testing, refining analysis of tasks and workload, and modeling and evaluating workplace design and operator procedures.
• Testing and evaluation including confirming conformity to pre-defined specifications, measuring operator performance, and identifying any design or procedural weaknesses.

Ergonomics is about fit. The fit is between people, the things they do, the objects they use and the environments they work, travel and play in. If good fit is achieved, individuals are better able to do the task the system has been design. They are more comfortable, do things quicker and easier, and tend to make fewer mistakes. A driving simulator helps the ergonomic, human factors and industrial engineer achieve a fit between drivers and their automobiles. Find out more…

• Driving Research Solutions
• Research Driving Simulators
• Driving Simulation Software