Emotions in the Age of Automated Driving - Developing Use Cases for Empathic Cars

Abstract

Improving user experience of highly automated vehicles is key to increase their acceptance. One possibility to realize this is the design of empathic cars that are capable of assessing the emotional state of vehicle occupants and react to it accordingly by providing tailored support. At the moment, the central challenge is to derive relevant use cases as basis for the design of future empathic cars. Therefore, we propose a workshop that aims to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in affective computing, affective interfaces and automated driving as forum for the development of a roadmap towards empathic vehicles using design thinking methods. During the workshop, we will gain a common understanding of the central concepts and listen to impulse talks about current and recent projects on emotions during automated driving. Based on this, relevant use cases are generated in group work and discussed with the goal to identify potential research and knowledge gaps. Finally, a road map for research towards the realization of automated empathic cars is formulated from the results.