Soldiers' perspectives on natural user interfaces in combat vehicle operations

Research on soldier-vehicle interaction within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) remains limited. Despite advances in Natural User Interfaces (NUIs), such as touch, voice, and gesture-based controls, military vehicles still primarily rely on traditional input-output mechanisms like buttons and joysticks. Moreover, prior HCI research on military technologies has largely overlooked environmental impediments and operational constraints, assuming ideal conditions, as factors that could influence navigation and interaction. To address this gap, we conducted exploratory semi-structured interviews with 13 participants having soldier-vehicle interaction experience to explore the types of environmental impediments and operational constraints encountered in combat or warfighting scenarios and how different NUIs can support effective interaction in various mission categories. Results revealed that environmental impediments and operational constraints substantially influence the suitability of different NUI modalities, with participants emphasising that effective interaction depends on mission context, task demands, and multimodal interface design.