Multi-Level Force Touch Discrimination on Central Information Displays in Cars

Abstract

Multi-level force input on touchscreens in the car has the potential to increase input richness and to address scalability issues due to the increasing number of features and. However, the number of levels and the corresponding force threshold is not known. We built a center console prototype that features a 10" force-sensitive touchscreen with haptic feedback to study the user perceptual sensitivity in discriminating force differences. We contribute results from an extensive controlled experiment with 20 participants, investigating the number of practical levels of force and their corresponding thresholds. We also contribute design implications for future force-enabled touch HMIs in the center console.