The Future of User Evaluation - exploring how emerging technology can be used in user evaluation to investigate driver interaction

Abstract

Technology is advancing rapidly across multiple fields and emerging technologies hold significant potential to shape the future of product development and design. This thesis explores the intersection of emerging technology and user evaluation in collaboration with Volvo Group Trucks Technology. It is particularly focused on the context of human-machine interaction and how emerging technologies can enhance future user evaluation of driver interaction. The study set out to identify what types of insights and results emerging technologies could offer for user evaluation, along with associated practical limitations and opportunities in an industrial automotive setting. The work was structured in two phases. The first phase involved technology scouting through literature research and expert meetings to identify relevant emerging technologies. In the second phase, two selected technologies, extended reality and emotion interpretation, were tested in practice to further explore their value for user evaluation. A total of 19 expert meetings were held, an XR workshop was conducted with both a pilot and main session, and three types of emotion interpretation tests were performed. Five technologies were identified as particularly relevant for user evaluation in the considered context: extended reality, emotion interpretation, EEG sensors, eye tracking and artificial intelligence. The results suggested that each explored technology demonstrates distinct strengths and opportunities to contribute to in-depth understanding of users and enhanced user evaluation. However, the results of the study also highlight technology limitations and the importance of complementing, rather than replacing, traditional user evaluation methods. The thesis concluded with specific recommendations for each explored technology area, along with an overarching recommendation to actively monitor ongoing developments in emerging technology for user evaluation. Specific recommendations for user evaluation in the automotive context were also presented, as well as the suggestion that a balanced approach between new tools and established practices would be most effective. While further research in this area is needed, the findings offer promising directions for how industrial actors, like Volvo Group, can advance user evaluation practices through emerging technologies.