Evaluation of The Prototype Delco Car Radio

Project summary:

The promise of the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) and GUIDESTAR is the infusion of technologies which will alleviate traffic congestion and promote traffic safety. One of the major concerns regarding the implementation of the new technologies is public acceptance. Public acceptance, in turn, is predicated largely on our ability to introduce technologies in a way which will make their advantages to the driving public completely obvious. That is, the new technologies must be part of a system which is easy to understand and use, safe, and with benefits obvious to the driving public. While the direct benefits of technology stem from engineering, the issues determining public acceptance fall under the provenance of Human Factors. The prototype Delco Radio Data Systems (RDS) car radio is an example of a technology whose public acceptance, ease of use, and safety was neither certain nor obvious. As this represented only one of a series of proposed in-vehicle information aids, such information was critical to IVHS and GUIDESTAR success in the realm of in-vehicle technologies. Consequently, the University of Minnesota's Human Factors Research Laboratory (HFRL) evaluated the RDS for MnDOT in this research project.