Abstract
The aim of the TRIPMATE project is to concentrate safety, telematic and comfort related functions on a single vehicle. The objective is to assure that the driver is protected against any dangerous situation and connected to the external world in a comfortable and not distracting way. Therefore, TRIPMATE is a sort of virtual friend of the driver who accompanies him/her during the driving task. In the first part, the article describes the functions that are implemented in the concept and the communicational solutions designed to improve an easy interaction between the driver and the system. The second part is focused on the TRIPMATE HMI both from the technological and the human-machine interaction point of view.