In-Car Touch Screen Interaction: Comparing Standard, Finger-Specific and Multi-Finger Interaction

In this paper, we explore a novel interaction technique for the automotive domain, distinguishing between different fingers when interacting with a touch screen, and compare it against standard and multi-finger gesture interaction. We conducted a pilot test (n=6) and final user evaluation of the interaction techniques (n=15) in an in-car context. We report that subjectively users found both alternative interaction techniques required less visual attention than normal touch screen interaction. Additionally, multi-finger interaction using 4 fingers simultaneously was found challenging by many users. Our approach targets to provide alternative interaction methods for touch screen UIs in cars, that reduce the amount of attention required for the interaction, and hence reduce the distraction from the concurrent driving task.