'Look me in the eyes!' analyzing the effects of embodiment in humanized human-machine interaction in heavy trucks

Personal assistants like Alexa, Siri, and co. persuade users to treat technology like a friend. Studies indicate that humanized features like voice, the display of emotions and empathy help people to have more trust and pleasure and feel companionship when interacting with the technology. The professional truck driver has various challenges such as being isolated for several hours while performing a monotonous driving task, which is exacerbated by having to monitor increasing automation, growing pressure due to increasing demand, and just-in-time delivery, we believe that humanized human-machine interaction can improve the working situation of truck drivers. Therefore, we created a socially interactive device called ICo (the Intelligent Co-driver), which supports and accompanies the driver while driving. In a driving simulator study with 34 professional drivers, we investigated within a Wizard of Oz setup to what extent the addition of human characteristics through mimicry and gesture changes the driving performance, user experience, and technology acceptance. No differences could be shown in the subjective data, but the objective data captured in the study suggests that humanization affects driving performance and driver engagement.