Consulting and evaluation services for the automotive branch have been core components of our operational range ever since the company was founded. We are offering services for the whole product development process:
- Ideation & concept development
- Demand & requirement analysis
- GUI-Design
- Analysis and optimization of usability
- Evaluation of assistance systems and driver states in regard to:
- Distraction
- Intuitive usability
- Acceptance,
- Joy of use,
- Aesthetics,
- Carrying out of driving studies
- Fatigue assessment
- Calibration of fatigue detection systems
- Driver models
Examples of our successful projects in the automotive sector:

Safety Potential of Cycle Helmets
The goal of the study is to examine the impact of cycle helmets to improve traffic safety, and to show ways to improve the use of cycle helmets.

Camera Monitor Systems as a source for driver information
Camera monitor systems (CMS) can be used in motor vehicles to display the rear view for the driver on one or several monitors integrated in the vehicle interior. This may ... Weiterlesen

Accessibility for Inter-City Busses
With an emphasis on the inclusion of all passengers in terms of social equality, from the year 2020 remote buses in germany must be properly “accessible”. However, the details of design prerequisites for accessibility facilities have yet to be officially specified. HFC has been researching this topic on behalf of the Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen within this project.

Perceptional Processes and Errors of Cyclists
This project’s goal was to explore cyclists’ visual and acoustic perception of road traffic, and to identify types and causes of perceptional errors.

BASt Fatigue – Detection of Driver Fatigue
HFC have carried out a comprehensive reassessment of the current state of re-search regarding driver drowsiness detection.

BASt Taxonomy – Taxonomy for Driving Task Errors
In this project we were developing a taxonomy of human errors during vehicle operation for the Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt, German Federal Highway Research Institute).

ABALID – Turning Assistance for Truck Drivers
An assistance system is being developed to avoid turning accidents between cy-clists and large vehicles (trucks, buses, etc.).

UDV Turning – Analysis of Accidents Involving Turning Car-Drivers and Cyclists
We analyzed the existing infrastructure of bicycle traffic in accident prone hubs as well as the typical patterns of behavior of road users. This led to recommendations concerning both the design of hub infrastructures as well as cycling behavior in traffic.

UDV DRL – Daytime Running Lights for Cars
On behalf of the Insurers Accident Research (UDV), HFC has tested and verified the measures of daytime running lights on safety and negative effects, in cooperation with the Laboratory of Lighting Technology at the Technical University of Berlin (until 2011).

Networked Driving
The aim of the project was to research the perspectives of drivers in the design, development and marketing of networked automotive applications.

AtEgoSim – Automated Generation of Highly Detailed Worlds, Situations, and AI Dynamics for Real-Time Research Driving Simulators
Guided by our experience with former versions of the HFC driving simulator, the AtEgoSim framework is a complete redesign of the simulator infrastructure with today’s technology. Its ambituous aim is ... Weiterlesen

Ideal Courses
The aim of the ideal courses project was to create a realistic course for arbitrary geometries. In order to do this we relied on expert knowledge from both racing and test drivers.