The influence of mobile phone location and screen orientation on driving safety and the usability of car-sharing software in-car use

One of the important parts of the Internet economy is the car-sharing economy. Nevertheless, a few numbers of studies have been dedicated to the issues of safety of driving and usability resulting from the car-sharing software application. The current study aims at analyzing the effect of phone location and screen orientation on usability and safety of driving in Chinese drivers who use car-sharing software (e.g., UBER) and comparing the differences in the safety of driving and usability among various car-sharing tasks. To this end, 24 experienced Chinese Uber drivers were employed using a driving simulator, and three tasks of car-sharing software were investigated. The variables of driving safety and usability were analyzed by Repeat Measurement ANOVA as well as Two-way ANOVA. It was found that when the phone is located on the left side of the steering wheel, usability and driving safety were better compared to locating it on the right side. The orientation of the mobile phone screen had a major impact on usability, while its impact on driving safety was trivial. The left-portrait mode showed the best performance. No significant impact on usability was found in terms of tasks (T1: ordering; T2: route checking; T3: destination search), while tasks showed a significant effect on driving safety. Among these tasks, the T3 task showed the highest impact on driving safety. The T2 task was in the second rank, followed by the T1 task (T1 < T2 < T3). The findings obtained from Chinese participants were different from the findings obtained in Japan and the United States. This finding can be used as a basis for the optimization design of ca-sharing software and as a foundation for improving the safety and usability of car-sharing software used by drivers in the car.