## 1 Introduction
The effects of driver gender and age are generally taken into account when a group of subjects participates in ergonomic experiments. Differences in relevant performances between men and women are not practically significant, but age certainly has effects [4; 8; 17; 18]. Human visual performance, response time, channel capacity, and processing time required for decision-making decline with age. A study by [PERSON] [19] aimed to assess how young (20 participants aged 20 to 30) and older drivers (30 participants aged 65 years and over) interacted with novel instrument cluster designs while driving. Four IC designs with different levels of complexity were used during simulated driving tasks. The performance was measured as the time required to retrieve information from the IC. The results indicated that the novel instrument clusters did not make reading easier for older drivers. In the study by [PERSON] et al. [20], the efficiency, usability, and visual distraction of three types of speedometers were compared: digital, analog, and redundant speedometers. Measurements with a group of 18 active male truck drivers were performed in a simulated truck driving setup. The primary driving task was to follow a car in front of the truck. The speedometers were tested for absolute reading, relative reading, and dynamic reading. The authors concluded that the digital speedometer is more efficient and less visually distracting for absolute and relative readings, while the analog speedometer is more effective for speed change detection. The redundant speedometer has the best performance compared to the other two types. In their experiments, only the speedometer was displayed on the instrument cluster to isolate its effect, and interactions with other gauges and instruments have not been investigated. Electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles are changing the concepts of DVI, directing numerous research projects toward reconsidering IC design [8; 21; 22]. The study by [PERSON] et al. [22] aimed to evaluate two different IC concepts for EV. The first IC concept was based on a traditional IC, while the design of the second concept was inspired by other battery-operated products. The results showed that the participants had problems understanding the EV-specific information content independently of concepts. In addition, the subjects considered the speedometer to be the most important instrument, and if it was not placed in the middle of the IC, this was taken as a disadvantage. The study of [PERSON] and [PERSON] [23] aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the information provided to the drivers by the conventional vehicle display units. Drawing from memory was used as the method to obtain traces of the operative images of 425, both experienced and less experienced non-professional drivers. In addition to the survey data, directions were also created that would lead to the simplification of future displays. One of the suggestions was to omit some less important gauges and simplify the numbering and labeling of the speedometer. An ergonomically appropriate visual instrument should provide correct information to the driver in the shortest possible time. In general, the main attributes of IC that are considered favorable in terms of reading errors and information retrieval time are as follows [1; 2; 8; 10; 24]:  
* Large instrument and large characters on it;
* An instrument which is distinctive on the cluster;
* High contrast between the number/pointer and the background of the instrument;
* Motion compatibility. Mandatory information and basic display or instrument design, characteristics, and position are defined by relevant standards and regulations [5; 25; 26], but there is still a lot of space for IC design diversity. The motivation for this study was the fact that there are large differences in IC design among different types and series of vehicles, even within the same brand [27]. A variety of visual HMIs designed across vehicle manufacturers may impact driver distraction [28].