Too Much of a Good Thing: When In-Car Driver Assistance Notifications Become Too Much

Driving monitoring and assistance systems are increasingly implemented by car manufacturers to increase safety and comfort for car drivers. Through notifications such systems support or create awareness in different driving situations. To provide appropriate notifications, knowledge about the driver’s needs need to be gained. In this study we investigate the acceptance of certain notifications in several driving scenarios for different driving styles. Through focus groups we found that there are different notification needs based on driving styles in relation to different driving scenarios. However, our results suggest that notification needs are more influenced by the cognitive load that is used rather than driving style on its own. Furthermore, deeper knowledge should be gained on the negative effects of providing notifications as there are situations in which a driver is rather be left alone than being assisted through notifications.