Introducing the AIDE architecture approach

Date: 13 May 2005

The EC-supported AIDE Integrated Project – in which ERTICO is a participant – aims at improving driver system interaction in terms of distraction and usability to increase driving safety and improve user comfort.

Today more and more IVIS (in-vehicle information systems) and ADAS (adaptive driver assistance systems) are integrated in vehicles which individually interact with drivers and sometimes use dedicated I/O devices (Figure 1).

Consequently, the systems and the driver’s communication with them are designed independently from each other. Frequently, the design process of each individual system takes into account human aspects. The HMI is optimised in terms of distraction and usability, but less effort is spent on the interdependence of the individual systems and the corresponding influence on the driver. Thus, more applications mean more interdependencies between I/O events from different systems. This dramatically affects the driver distraction and leads to risks in driver safety.

AIDE’s main objective is to improve driver system interaction in terms of distraction and usability to increase driving safety and improve user comfort. In order to reach this goal, it focuses on:

• explicitly considering the effects of HMI interdependences, i.e. preventing interference between different I/O events presented at the same time to the driver.
• taking into account the driving situation, driver state and driver preferences to adapt the HMI dependent on these conditions, i.e. the interaction may be changed in critical conditions or reduce driver distraction due to preferences to and draw the driver’s attention to the driving task.
• including nomadic devices in a common in-vehicle HMI in a way that they do not differ in terms of the HMI strategy from integrated applications.

Importance of the ICA
The AIDE specific functionality for HMI adaptation and I/O management is not only comprised of all the I/O devices and user interface design, but also a central intelligence point called the Interaction and Communication Assistant (ICA) (Figure 2). The ICA controls the interaction between driver and system, specifically integrated IVIS and ADAS applications and the availability of knowledge about the driver status, the driving situation and driver preferences. This functionality and knowledge is used to manage the driver-vehicle interaction in order to increase driving safety and comfort. The ICA also ensures that information is given to the driver correctly at the right time and that only functions relevant to the present driving context are active.

The ICA is also responsible for managing all of the interaction and communication between the driver and the vehicle, based on the assessment of the driver-vehicle-environment (DVE) state/situation provided by appropriate monitoring modules (DVE module) (Figure 2). This includes the selection of modality for presentation, the message prioritisation and scheduling and the general adaptation of the driver-vehicle interface (e.g. display configuration and function allocation). Furthermore, such a fully integrated common in-vehicle HMI allows the exploitation of synergies, reduces HW costs and enhances system performance.

It has to be stressed that a "best in-vehicle HMI" does not exist. Thus, the most crucial requirement is derived from the fact that the "HMI" is strongly competitive and OEM specific. In this case, "HMI" stands for the "look and feel" and the strategy used to interact with the driver. Thus, the AIDE system needs to be flexible and scalable concerning the detailed system behaviour, the extent of applications and the I/O device constellation that is used.

Architecture specificities

The AIDE HMI software architecture must reflect those requirements. Consequently, development is based on a strictly generalised and categorised functional description of the in-vehicle interactions as well as the solutions which can be selected by the car manufacturers according to their wishes and needs.

The AIDE software architecture assumes a strict separation of the functional logic of an application and its HMI (a Model-View-Control pattern approach) (Figure 3), whereas the model can be connected via an arbitrary bus system to an application ECU (electrical control unit) providing the basic functionality like a broadcast receiver, navigation unit or obstacle detection unit. The model itself provides the "HMI functionality" of an application – such as the navigation map rendering, a meta data-based approach to access music or an in-vehicle suited browser for accessing telematics services via a nomadic device. In the latter case, data and functionality of nomadic devices can be used in the vehicle, whereas an in-vehicle application accesses the nomadic device via a well-defined gateway and uses the integrated I/O devices to control the nomadic device functionality.

In order to realise I/O management taking into account the interdependences of interactions with the driver, the applications must have a specific interface to the mentioned ICA module (Figure 3). The ICA module must be requested by the applications for any I/O action. It prioritises the requests and decides which interaction is allowed to take place, when and in which form. It is important that the ICA must  be independent from those applications, i.e. it cannot have knowledge about the semantics of the applications. This is realised using a set of generalised parameters for the request which objectively characterise the application.   

In the case of integrating already existing applications in an AIDE system, the communication between the application and the ICA is done by an AIDE interface adapter, which naturally can be integrated in the application model.

The information about the driver status, the driving situation and the driver preferences is provided by a DVE component which provides not only the applications but also the ICA with the information to adapt the HMI strategy or individual output events only known by the applications itself.

For more information, please contact ERTICO Head of New Initiatives Paul Kompfner or visit the AIDE website