@inproceedings{15b2b4be04594e1280ee9808ed7cfac8,
title = "“I{\textquoteright}m Always Here”: An Affective Companion Agent for Novice Drivers",
abstract = "Novice drivers face operational and emotional challenges but are often overlooked in current in-vehicle agent design. Based on the interviews with 22 novice drivers, we introduce an affective companion in-vehicle agent that monitors drivers{\textquoteright} expressions and proactively provides situational guidance and emotional support through animated interface and voice interaction without wake word. We developed a design prototype and implemented it in a driving simulator. The evaluation (N = 20) showed that users provided positive ratings for interaction quality, emotional support, and overall satisfaction, indicating the system{\textquoteright}s potential for practical in-vehicle applications. This study provides new insights for the design of in-vehicle affective agents.",
author = "Wei Gong and Wang, \{Stephen Jia\}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 2025 SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Posters, SA 2025 ; Conference date: 15-12-2025 Through 18-12-2025",
year = "2025",
month = dec,
day = "14",
doi = "10.1145/3757374.3771470",
language = "English",
series = "Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Posters, SA 2025",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery, Inc",
editor = "Spencer, \{Stephen N.\} and Taku Komura and Junyong Noh",
booktitle = "Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Posters, SA 2025",
}