Study of driver's behavioral characteristics for designing interfaces of in-vehicle navigation systems based on national and regional factors

Drivers' cognitive processes in route selection to the desired destination are investigated from the viewpoint of national and regional factors in order to design effective in-vehicle navigation systems. Swedish and Japanese drivers' cognitive processes were investigated based on cognitive maps utilizing the map sketch method and the question-asking protocol method. The results show that the types of elements in a cognitive map and the cognitive process using those elements in route selection are different between Swedish and Japanese drivers. This implies that the national and regional factors should be introduced into the design of the human interface of in-vehicle navigation systems.