Car Talk

by :: NOV 14, 2008 :: COMMENTS (0)

My current daily driver is a 21-year-old Nissan Maxima wagon that came with a relatively unique feature: voice warnings. Its an interesting case study for user centered design.

In the event that something is amiss, the car will speak to you regarding a handful of common problems. For example, "fuel level is low" or "left door is open."

To aid your talking car experience, Nissan engineers developed a single, thoughtful control switch.

Pressed one way, the switch stops the car from talking. This is handy in the case you want to, say, drive with your door open. Pressed the other direction, the switch repeats the most recent warning spoken. This is handy in case you didn't hear it the first time, say, because your door was open.

In addition, the system quiets the stereo before it speaks, and speaks the language of the market it was sold to (English, Japanese, Spanish...).

A lot of effort went into making this system work in a fairly friendly manner for the driver. But there is one important question that the folks at Nissan didn't ask. A question that might explain the reason voice warnings aren't in all of today's cars:

Why does the driver need a spoken warning?

Truth be told, as soon as my car utters its first syllable I'm looking at the dash for a trouble light. I have a solution before it can complete its thought. Spoken information may have its place in a car (eg. GPS directions) but it really depends on the problem being solved.

tags: AUTOMOBILES, DESIGN THINKING, INFORMATION DESIGN

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