Essay on Command Systems

Modern cars contain increasingly complex driver information systems. To handle such a system in a safe and comfortable way new approaches for in-car user interfaces have to be developed. A special focus lies on speech input because it promises the most comfortable operation of the system without distracting the driver from traffic. But because speech input is not reliable enough, an error management for handling recognition errors is needed.

Today more and more applications which are supposed to support and entertain the driver are integrated in modern cars (e.g. navigation system, car office, CD player, etc.). This leads to increasingly complex driver information systems. To enable the driver to use all functions in a comfortable and intuitive way, new approaches for an in-car user interface have to be developed. At the department of Technical Computer Science a framework for such a new interface was developed in close cooperation with BMW.

Since the driving activity should always have the highest priority for safety reasons, current research focuses on speech input in addition to mechanical input. By using speech input it is possible to control an application (e.g. the radio) without taking one’s hands off the steering wheel and averting one’s eyes from traffic. That’s why speech input promises even less distraction than the use of mechanical input.
This, however, can only be reached with a perfect speech recognition which doesn’t exist so far. This means recognition errors occur frequently and lead to unexpected system reactions which in turn may confuse the user and distract him from traffic. So, a speech enabled application mustn’t ignore recognition errors in order to reach a robust and acceptable performance. That’s because an error management for error prevention and error handling is necessary.

Because driving must have the highest priority there are strong requirements........................

ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY