Situational Awareness: A Holistic Approach to Reducing Driver Distraction

Overview:
Mobile phones are both ubiquitous and the source of considerable controversy, particularly as an easily identifiable cause of driver distraction. Since mobile phones are implicated in only a fraction of distraction-related accidents and many drivers ignore the law, bans and restrictions on the use of mobile phones or other similar technologies only go a short way towards solving the problem.

This webinar takes a holistic approach to reducing driver distraction and describes how situational awareness can be used as a framework for strategies that decrease driver distraction. Topics include:

• the concept of situational awareness (SA) and the different types of distraction
• how SA can be used as a framework for improving driver performance and safety
• how SA can be used to develop a connected and integrated vehicle cockpit that increases driver awareness of objects and events on the road, and adapts in-vehicle interfaces to manage cognitive load
• the challenges designers must face when developing these types of in-vehicle systems

Estimated length: 1 hour, including Q&A 

Who should attend?
The seminar is intended for vehicle cockpit and HMI designers and their managers, as well as legislators and public servants who make decisions concerning vehicle safety.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this session.

Presenters:
Scott Pennock, Senior Standards Specialist, QNX
Scott Pennock is a senior standards specialist at QNX Software Systems. Before joining QNX, Scott was a lead acoustic-test engineer at Apple, a senior systems engineer at OnStar in speech-enhancement technologies, and a speech-technologies specialist at Lucent, also working on speech enhancement technologies. 

Scott holds a bachelor's degree in experimental/cognitive psychology from Michigan State University and a master's degree in applied psychology from the Stevens Institute of Technology. 

Andy Gryc, Senior Product Marketing Manager, QNX
Andy Gryc has been a software developer and designer for over 20 years, and is currently a senior product-marketing manager at QNX Software Systems, responsible for the company's go-to-market strategy in automotive. 

Prior to joining QNX, Andy worked as a lead software architect on the telematics module of the GM OnStar system, a senior developer on a speech-recognition engine for Syvox, and as a valuable contributor to the line of Hewlett-Packard palmtops and OmniBook notebooks. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Michigan.