Advanced GPS Devices: Hello? I Am There Soon!

Development of communication technologies allowed people to access to others as they are mobile without losing their contact with their social milieu. And last minute meetings, daily changed plans and cancelled appointments became a part of our lives. Most of the time people owning a mobile phone have to explain the reason why they are not accessible. So communication is handled on individual basis, location restrictions gained minor importance. It means that a person does not have to lose contact with his/her social milieu whether he/she is at home, work or in a car.

We do not have much difficulties in using our devices to reach communication technologies as we are at home or walking on the streets. The issue gets tougher when we started to drive our cars. The main actor in the car is the car, making the course decisions and using the in-vehicle devices. Normally a driver’s task is to drive the car safely without causing any danger for himself and the passengers. But a driver is not a robot programmed only to achieve one mission, meaning that human brain has the capacity to carry on more than one job at the same time. Although that situation is in favor of the driver, concentrating on many things can cause deconcentraion on the driver’s seat.

Mobile phones, undoubtedly, remain the most significant device for in-vehicle use. As mobile phone usage brings about questions during the course of the cars, many countries started to discuss this issue in detail. And many countries banned to use mobile during the course of the cars. As some countries allow to use mobile phones with “hands free kit”, some countries banned it in a strict way.

My starting point for my thesis was to establish some projects to solve the problems about the currently used in-vehicle technologies. I already had some questions in my mind requiring answers: How do the in-vehicle technologies affect our behaviours in the car? How better can the interfaces of those devices be designed? How better can i meet the communication demands of the driver?

I started my study to interview with drivers to know their in-vehicle needs.My purpose was to find the anwers to those questions in general: What is the relation of the driver with his car? How often and which purpose does he motivate to drive? What does he need as he drive the car? As well as with my face-to-face interviews i held a survey with similar questions and sent to people to get a mass feedback. My purpose was to acquire a leitmotive that i would like to focus on. The respondents explained that they have one or more mobile phones. Although it is forbidden in-vehicle use of mobile phones in their countries, they did not hesitate to use their mobile phones.

One of my projects is called navigation system interface. Currently used road navigators is based on to trace the map located on the console or the next turn is passed to the driver through a warning voice in some systems. Such road navigators play a significant role for the deconcentraion of the driver as he tries to trace a small display. Mostly used audible warning systems could be disturbing as the music is on the car or passengers are talking to each other. To me the road navigator should function without deconcentrating the driver, as the main target of it is to navigate.

My second project is Pronto, which integrates navigation and communication for in-vehicle use. Respondents underlined that the their most phone calls are intented to know where they are. Such calls can be decreased thrugh the communication of in-vehicle devices. With Pronto, driver matches his mobile phone with the car once and then as he enters his car his mobile phone and in-vehicle system will be synchronized via bluetooth.

My point for both projects was to reshape current technology and devices to match with people’s demands. Now both projects await for the production as feasible and practical systems in the near future.

Closing words are for the users’ now. Drivers having the opportunity to try those projects said they look forward to use those systems in real life as well. If people’s motivations are considered in depth as technology is shaped, it would be possible to launch long life and exciting products.

I was born and raised in Turkey and I traveled around the country since my parents are teachers. Spending my childhood and teenage years reading all sorts of books, eating chocolate and peanuts, listening to first New Kids on the Block, then metal music, studying for the university entrance exam to be a kick-ass economist, I managed to get into a brand new university, moved to Istanbul, never took a single economics class, tried computer science, flirted with cultural studies and art, went to exhibition openings for free booze, met people, walked through every interesting bit of the city, danced like no one is watching, took billions of photographs, eventually ended up getting a BA in visual communication design.