Sabine Berghaus

With the increasing popularity of wearable technology, companies have been evaluating if wearable devices are relevant to them. In the context of a project in the automotive industry, we set out to assess user requirements for successful application of wearable devices in connection with the vehicle. In order to identify user requirements relevant for our research, we (1) reviewed existing literature to extract requirements already discovered in previous research; (2) we conducted a market analysis in order to gain an overview on functionalities and use cases of current wearable devices; (3) we developed customer journeys as a tool for the focus group and the development of utilization scenarios; (4) we tested our findings in a focus group, and (5) developed five utilization scenarios for in-car use of wearable devices. Results show that key requirements for users are contextual intelligence, making use of sensory input and connectivity, anticipation of user needs, unobtrusiveness, and compatibility with other devices and operating systems.