An Initial Exploration of Usability Evaluation for Physical and Virtual Automotive Multimedia Interfaces

As technology matures, the use of virtual interfaces to operate products has become one of the current design trends. This study focuses on the usability evaluation of physical and virtual interfaces using the example of the automotive multimedia control system interface. The research utilizes the Thinking Aloud method and interviews to investigate user perceptions of these interfaces. Participants were separately tasked with performing operational tasks using both physical and virtual interfaces for the automotive multimedia control system. The study aims to understand how users evaluate and utilize these interfaces while driving, exploring how different interface designs impact user interactions. After recording each participant's interaction process and verbal feedback, interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights into user experiences and opinions regarding both interface types. The experimental results are comprehensively discussed to identify current usability issues and to provide recommendations for preferred automotive interface designs and future design considerations based on user preferences.