Driver-Centric Design: Empirical Strategies for Optimizing the Visualization of Driving Information on Vehicle Liquid Crystal Display Dashboards

With the continuous advancement of smart car and vehicle display technologies, liquid crystal display (LCD) dashboards have become the mainstream medium for displaying driving information. This makes the reading performance and user research of LCD vehicle dashboards critically important. In this study, we aim to evaluate the impact of the human-machine interface (HMI) design of vehicle LCD dashboards on driver readability and user experience. Twelve experts participated in a clustering experiment of vehicle dashboards, and 32 drivers participated in a simulated driving environment test of resident display information and temporary display information. The results for resident display information indicate that design type makes a significant difference in both reading performance and visual search efficiency. In addition, only the unconventional-shaped (L-shaped) dual-dial design achieves the “desired” rating in the user experience evaluations. Regarding temporary display information, findings indicate that icons positioned at the top of the dashboard interface are more readable than those at the bottom. High-prioritized or frequently used icons should be placed at the top of the screen. Alternatively, if icons must be positioned at the bottom, they should be no smaller than 8 mm in size. This research will help reduce the driver’s visual workload and off-road sight time, reduce the risk of traffic accidents, and improve the driver’s user experience.