James R. Davis, Chris Schmandt

Abstract

The Back Seat Driver is an automobile navigation aid which uses synthetic speech to give driving instructions in real time to the driver of a car. The advantage of speech over visual aids is that it leaves the driver's eyes free for driving, however it also poses special problems. This paper describes the strategies employed by the Back Seat Driver to successfully use speech. We hope this paper will persuade you of the value of speech in driving directions.