UX DESIGNER
My Roles
Tools I used
Revolution: AV INNOVATION
UX Engineering
Product Design
UX Research
UI Design
C# + Unity
Figma
Rhino
Keyshot
Adobe Creative Suite
Team Members
Quint Bailey
Arjun Gupta
Nandika Gupta
Angelia Gan
Awards
Project Overview
In a world ever-accelerating towards an autonomous future, user acceptance of automation technology is crucial to realizing its forward trajectory. In the automotive industry, automation is of particular concern due to the potential safety and efficiency benefits it may provide.
If you would like to view the fully detailed version of our project, showcasing everything...
Feel free to download the process book!
A self-driving future with safer roads and less accidents is imminent, however, current drivers are not ready because they need to feel in control of their car. Their biggest fears are how an AV will handle difficult scenarios and edge cases.
The Problem
Our Solution
Revolution is a showroom simulator that prepares users for the future of autonomous vehicles by acclimating users to the controls, terminology, and overall experience of operating an AV.
My Focus: UI Design | Product Design
As a UX Designer, my intervention was integral throughout every step of the process --investigative research, software design, UI design, user testing and others.
1. Primary and Secondary Research: Construction, distribution and analysis of surveys; construction, performance, and analysis of interviews and digital ethnography; online investigation
2. Stickies: Organization, Affinitization and HMWs
3. User Journey maps and Personas: Construction
4. UI: Development for onboarding
5. In-vehicle cabin ecosystem: Re-design following user tester feedback
6. Product Shots: Modeling and Rendering
7. Unity Scene: Development and Coding and assistance
8. Physical simulator: Assistance in construction
Take a look at our final results at the bottom of this page!
Design Process
01. Research
03. Prototyping
02. Concept
04. Final Product
01. Research
Weeks of secondary and primary research led to plenty of discoveries and problem areas. We found out that AVs have 5 levels of automation and Tesla's falls into the level 3 category.
We decided to create acceptance for level 4 AVs as we believe this is where the future of Automated Vehicles are headed to.
According to our interviews---
Why is there a lack of trust with AVs?
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People fear automation technology
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AV technology is still in the works
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There is a lack of accountability in cases of accidents
To help build trust with AVs we decided to look into emotional recognition technology that interacts with the users as they experience their AV. We decided to move forward with the following:
We then moved-on to some field research. Luckily, a Tesla dealership opened up near us, so we went undercover acting as potential Tesla buyers. They allowed us to give it a test ride.
There were 2 goals in mind during this field research:
1. To gain a first-hand experience driving & riding a level 3 semi-autonomous vehicle
2. To understand the different facets of an AV's UX & how the experience is delivered to the driver & passengers
After gaining first-hand experience driving an AV, other types of research followed.
Throughout our research process we contacted a variety of SMEs from Waymo and Cruise. Users were interviewed as well.
The following goals were in mind:
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To learn about the current technology & capability of AVs & how confidence is built with the user
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To better understand how difficult scenarios & edge cases are handled by AVs
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To learn if & how emotional recognition technology is being leveraged within AVs
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To learn about different users’ perspectives & mental models of AVs
We also decided to delve deeper into the emotional state of mind of your average driver. With that, we moved toward creating a Cultural Probe set in Forsyth Park to attain further data from a large number of users.
All research gathered, our novel findings and opportunity spaces were the following;
1. Drivers want to feel in control
2. Edge cases cause concern in the public's eyes
3. Drivers have their own preferred way of driving that AVs will likely not match.
Our umbrella how might we...
How might we foster users' sense of control and inspire confidence with an AVs ability to handle any scenario it may encounter?
02. Concept
We had plenty of ideas, but we chose the concepts that both have an immediate impact and are feasible for us.
We decided on "The Simulator" concept.
We felt that it best matched our users' needs, by giving users experiential knowledge to help them visualize the capabilities of an AV while removing the fear of injury or accident.
The following is a storyboard showcasing how one would interact with the simulation. The storyboard follows Alex as they create their unique profile, test driving the simulation, and is later given a unique ID that stores all their preferred settings. The card allows Alex to personalize their Tesla if they so choose to buy one.
We also developed some personas and a journey map to further explain the problems and how our solution will help these specific archetypes. For example, here is Jesse -- the "AV Skeptic".
After--- we moved on to creating our product.
03. Prototyping UI and Product Design
Once we understood our users and their needs, we settled on our idea. Team member Arjun Gupta helped with the creation of a physical prototype while team member Quint Bailey and I worked on the Unity Scene Simulator. Then we grouped up and worked on the UI and product. We bought a steering wheel and pedals and programmed them into our simulation.
The following image is the lo-fi version of our Onboarding for the AV UI.
Building the Simulation:
We knew in order to make a viable user test, we needed to effectively simulate the driving environment. In our case, that meant a triple-monitor display, a racing wheel and pedal controller, and a Unity simulation to propel the prototype. While several persons in the team are experienced coders, none of us had even opened Unity before this project.
The images above are showcasing the scene we built in Unity
Once the prototype was built, we were able to test our solution on users. We went to the Gulfstream Center for Design and tested as many people as we could. Sample images below:
To make things even more realistic, we also made a UI to go along with the prototype. This UI brings the user through setup, navigation, and an edge-case ( zone of construction). This UI was implemented on an iPad to the users' right side, where an In-Vehicle Infotainment center would be.
04. Final Deliverables
Revolution addresses the pre-purchase touchpoint for potential AV users who hold a number of fears. It offers a solution for customers who are curious about the technology but don't quite feel ready to take it onto the real road. It acclimates customers to driving with an AV, and prepares them for driving the real thing should they choose to do so. Most importantly, it retrains users' common knowledge with experiential knowledge, which is the gateway to their acceptance later down the line. Revolution isn't the only part of the AV Revolution, but it's a new angle we're excited to explore.
