Research on the Design and Evaluation Method of a Tractor Intelligent Control Interface

With the development of technology, future tractors will become more intelligent. More complex interfaces and several control components tend to cause drivers' cognitive load to be easily overloaded. Therefore, an evaluation method of the control interface should be proposed from the cognitive load perspective. To realise this concept, first, the influence of the design elements of the interface on behaviour time was investigated and a behaviour time model was established. Consequently, the experimental data could be well fitted by the model (R2 > 0.9), and the behaviour time of the operating interfaces could be effectively predicted. Second, an evaluation index of the interface was proposed based on behaviour time, which could evaluate the interface's design level. Finally, the validity of the evaluation method was verified. The results provide theoretical guidance for human–machine interfaces for tractors from the perspective of drivers' cognitive load.