Individualizing Displays through the Use of Neural Networks
An Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS), a key component of Intelligent Vehicle highway Systems (IVHS) in the near future, will help travelers find locations of restaurants, lodging, gas stations, and rest stops. On typical ATIS displays, which are now being incorporated in some advanced vehicles, the choices for these traveler services are presented to the vehicle occupants alphabetically. An experiment was conducted to determine whether individualizing the display through the use of neural networks enhanced performance when choosing restaurants. The neural network ATIS was compared to an ATIS that displayed the most frequently chosen restaurants at the top, one that alphabetized the list of restaurants, and one that randomly displayed the restaurant choices. The time to choose a restaurant was significantly faster for the individualized displays (neural network and frequency) when compared to the nonindividualized displays (alphabetical and random). When the two individualized displays were compared, choice time was significantly faster for the neural network approach.