Reinventing the Wheel

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce two different transforming steering wheel systems that can be utilized to augment user experience for future partially autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles. The first one is a robotic steering wheel that can mechanically transform by using its actuators to move the various components into different positions. The second system is a LED steering wheel that can visually transform by using LEDs embedded along the rim of wheel to change colors. Both steering wheel systems contain onboard microcontrollers developed to interface with our driving simulator. The main function of these two systems is to provide emergency warnings to drivers in a variety of safety critical scenarios, although the design space that we propose for these steering wheel systems also includes the use as interactive user interfaces. To evaluate the effectiveness of the emergency alerts, we conducted a driving simulator study examining the performance of participants (N=56) after an abrupt loss of autonomous vehicle control. Drivers who experienced the robotic steering wheel performed significantly better than those who experienced the LED steering wheel. The results of this study suggest that alerts utilizing mechanical movement are more effective than purely visual warnings.