# Affective Automotive User Interfaces -- Reviewing the State of Emotion Regulation in the Car

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.13731 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.13731/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 30 Mar 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [ChatGPT on the Road: Leveraging Large Language Model-Powered In-vehicle Conversational Agents for Safer and More Enjoyable Driving Experience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08101/) (2025)
- [HappyRouting: Learning Emotion-Aware Route Trajectories for Scalable In-The-Wild Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15695/) (2024)
- [Keep Calm and Relax -- HMI for Autonomous Vehicles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09046/) (2024)
- [SAFE-D: A Spatiotemporal Detection Framework for Abnormal Driving Among Parkinson's Disease-like Drivers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.17517/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Affective technology offers exciting opportunities to improve road safety by catering to human emotions. Modern car interiors enable the contactless detection of user states, paving the way for a systematic promotion of safe driver behavior through emotion regulation. We review the current literature regarding the impact of emotions on driver behavior and analyze the state of emotion regulation approaches in the car. We summarize challenges for affective interaction in form of cultural aspects, technological hurdles and methodological considerations, as well as opportunities to improve road safety by reinstating drivers into an emotionally balanced state. The purpose of this review is to outline the community's combined knowledge for interested researchers, to provide a focussed introduction for practitioners and to identify future directions for affective interaction in the car.