Design and evaluation of a user-centered interface to model scenarios on driving simulators Ghasan Bhatti a,b , Roland Brémond a,⇑ , Jean-Pierre Jessel b , Nguyen-Thong Dang a , Fabrice Vienne a , Guillaume Millet c a Université Paris Est, IFSTTAR, LEPSIS, Marne la Vallée, France b Université Paul Sabatier, IRIT, Toulouse, France c Oktal SA, Meudon, France article info Article history: Received 23 January 2014 Received in revised form 1 August 2014 Accepted 17 September 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Driving simulators Scenario modeling User-Centered Design User interface abstract Modeling scenarios on driving simulators is a complex and difficult task for end-users because they do not have the skills necessary to program the scenarios. In this paper, we present a user-centered architecture in which we have split the scenario modeling inter- face into 3 sub-interfaces (Template Builder, Experiment Builder, Experiment Interface) based on the user skill. The concept is tested with a panel of end-users, with fair results in terms of performance and subjective judgment. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Driving simulators are increasingly used to study driving behaviors, road safety features and to design and evaluate Advance Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS). In order to carry out an experiment, the end-user (e.g. behavioral researcher, psychologists, human factor experts) have to prepare an experimental protocol, which involves scenario authoring (e.g. mod- eling traffic situations and vehicle maneuvers). Such a preparation requires technical and programming skills for which behavior researchers do not have any formal training in most cases. As a result, they depend on technical persons or scenario developers in their respective organizations, which in most cases is a time-consuming and frustrating process, due to communication problems between people with different backgrounds. Moreover, this is also a time-consuming task for the technical team. A scenario in virtual reality applications typically involves a sequence of actions or events. In the context of driving sim- ulators, a scenario can be regarded as ‘‘everything that happens in the simulator’’, which include specifying and controlling the ambient traffic and its attributes, the ambient environment and the simulation conditions, the route of the participants and their position, the traffic situations and other vehicles maneuvers Papelis et al. (2003). Some authors include both the layout (road network, terrain, driving environment: city, motorway, etc.) and the activities during the experimental trials (critical situations, vehicle maneuvers, etc.) in the concept of ‘‘scenario’’. Some other use the term ‘‘scene’’ to specify the layout and the term ‘‘scenario’’ to specify the activities during the trials (Kearney and Timofey, 2011). In the following, scenario refers to the specification of all activities including critical events, vehicle maneuvers and environment changes. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2014.09.011 0968-090X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Transportation Research Part C xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part C journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/trc Please cite this article in press as: Bhatti, G., et al. Design and evaluation of a user-centered interface to model scenarios on driving sim- ulators. Transport. Res. Part C (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2014.09.011