UNDERSTANDING HMI TESTING

Newer and more advanced Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions ensure an increasingly advanced in-vehicle experience, and that is today driving state of the art In-Vehicle infotainment (IVI) features in the automotive industry.

- Deepak Prahlad

The automotive industry is operating in a world that demands much more than vehicles for transportation. It must deliver highly efficient machines with an even higher level of interface for various systems in the vehicle. Newer and more advanced Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions ensure an increasingly advanced in-vehicle experience, and that is today driving state of the art In-Vehicle infotainment (IVI) features in the automotive industry.

In today’s world, infotainment systems are required to provide seamless connectivity with mobile device app features and also operate intuitively, flawlessly and intelligently. A modern vehicle needs to communicate various functionalities - commands for safe driving, personalized in-vehicle digital systems - and also offer advanced connectivity options - like V2X (Vehicle to Everything), predictive maintenance and OTA (Over the Air) updates - to the driver that will essentially make driving experience a two-way communication. While this raises expectations of innovation, there are challenges that need to be addressed before the HMI aspect of in-vehicle functionalities can be declared fit and efficient, while being intuitive and contextual as well.

ENSURING A HEALTHY INTERFACE

A fine balance needs to be maintained between the driver and the in-vehicle functionalities. The human interface with the machine’s capabilities need to be easy to manage, decipher, navigate and also be accurate for graphics and sound acoustics, etc. That is a basic requirement, and now there is innovation that should deliver an HMI experience that is more advanced in many ways. While aesthetics is a big part of the HMI design, easy functionalities and high efficiency is the bigger bit.