An Approach for Conducting Stakeholder Interviews for a Novel Technology, as applied to the Locomotive Industry

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of a survey to interview US freight railroad engineers for the information requirements and the possible benefits of a new type of “augmented reality head up display” (AR-HUD). The goal is to use a windscreen mounted transparent display to provide a wide field-of-view while maintaining AR conformality using image-based head tracking. Stakeholders have different backgrounds and expectations, so solicitation and evaluation of opinions is inevitably challenging. However, it is important to factor expert opinions into the AR-HUD design at an early stage. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person, “hands-on” evaluations in a railroad simulator were not feasible. Instead, a video briefing, “overview,” of the AR-HUD concept, written reference, and an online opinion “survey” were developed using the Qualtrics survey platform. This thesis describes the survey design rationale and methodology. Prior simulator studies, hierarchical cognitive task analyses and other analytic methods were used to identify the tasks, goals and display information requirements for a reference freight rail operational driving “scenario”. Questions on in-cab, external, and predictive information were provided, and overall opinions were acquired by allowing free-text open-ended responses. Responses obtained from several early subjects were evaluated and compared. One expressed concern about the potential for deskilling if engineers become reliant on AR-HUD predictive information. A roadmap for further the analysis of the Survey results was developed to help form a better understanding of survey subjects, allowing for further refinement of the survey itself, and also the design of the AR-HUD prototype before initiation of locomotive simulator experiments.