Driving with Empathy: Workshop Report on AI-driven In-vehicle Empathic Agent Design for Automated Vehicles

The rapid development of automated vehicles offers promising avenues to enhance user experience and safety by integrating empathic in-vehicle interfaces. The report from the workshop Emotion GaRage series, held during the AutomotiveUI ’23 conference, investigates the potential of employing generative artificial intelligence (AI) to develop these empathic interfaces. Our workshop emphasized the importance of emotion recognition and regulation for passengers in driving contexts and the role of future in-vehicle empathic interfaces. Through collaborative design sessions, participants developed personalized in-vehicle agents to address drivers’ emotional states to improve safety and enjoyment. We explored insights by investigating the potential and possibilities of using generative AI in the design process. This report discusses the significance of empathic displays in facilitating the adoption of automated vehicles and explores the potential and limitations of using generative AI in the design phases.