Autonomous Vehicle Experience
An academic project focused on reimagining the autonomous vehicle experience, by giving it more intuitive interactions and involving personal customization tailored for each driver's needs.
Timeline
3 months (Aug 2021 - Oct 2021)
Disciplines
User Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping
My Role
I conducted user interviews and surveys, performed competitive analysis, and developed a sitemap that evolved into wireframes and a final interactive prototype.
Deliverable
Prototype
Overview
This project aimed to reshape the way drivers interact with fully autonomous vehicles. As the future of self-driving technology evolves, it's essential to explore new possibilities that arise when the act of driving is no longer required.
The objective is to create intuitive experiences for users who are new to autonomous driving, while also enhancing the journey for those already familiar with autopilot features. The driving environment should be a space where it's safe and curated for the driver where one can relax and engage meaningfully during their commute, reflecting the growing role cars play in our everyday lives.
Problem Statement
As autonomous vehicles become more integrated into everyday life, the challenge lies in designing an experience that goes beyond basic functionality. How can we elevate the in-vehicle experience to feel more intuitive, engaging, and human-centered and what opportunities exist to extend the vehicle’s capabilities beyond just transportation?"
Research
To design an improved autonomous vehicle experience, I began by exploring existing interfaces. I visited Audi and Tesla dealerships to interact with their latest electric vehicles and evaluate the usability of their dashboards. Despite their esteemed brand, I noticed consistent issues: small, hard to read typography, cluttered screens, and a lack of intuitive guidance for first-time users. Icons were often unlabeled and the interfaces offered little room for personalization. The result was an experience that felt overwhelming and unnecessarily complex which highlighted clear opportunities to create something more user-friendly, dynamic, and tailored to individual needs.
User Interviews
To better understand what users truly want from a fully autonomous vehicle, I created and distributed a survey to 50 participants, building on insights gathered from my earlier research into electric vehicle interfaces. The findings revealed key findings that helped shape the design decisions in my interface.
The survey results revealed that users placed high importance on reliable navigation and building trust in the vehicle's self-driving capabilities. Many expressed interest in being able to take advantage of the time during their long commutes to tackle tasks and ease their daily to-do lists. Above all, they prioritized feeling confident that the vehicle would get them to their destination safely. With these in mind, I moved forward with empathy mapping and developing the user persona.
Ideation
To guide the structure of the experience, I created a user journey and sitemap to visualize interactions, pain points, and content flow to lay out the foundation for an intuitive and streamlined interface.
Before diving into high-fidelity wireframes, I began by sketching out ideas to explore possible solutions. Guided by customer research, I focused on how to surface navigation clearly and incorporate the most valuable, user-driven features.
Designing
After multiple iterations of sketches, wireframes, and design explorations, the final interface began to take shape. Using Figma, I gave the autonomous vehicle dashboard a mock prototype and tested how users would interact with its core features. The final design includes a scrollable dashboard screen, giving users the freedom to arrange and prioritize widgets based on their needs, breaking away from the limitations of a static layout. The interface is fully customizable, allowing each driver to personalize their experience.
Here are some of the core features.
Scrollable Dashboard
The best solution wasn’t to confine widgets within a fixed screen, but to introduce a dynamic, modular grid that empowers users to personalize their interface in a way that feels uniquely their own.
Route Sync
By syncing routes with a friend, their car can follow yours on autopilot with real-time traffic and route updates, ensuring you arrive together simultaneously and can track each other’s location on the map.
Quick Modes
Quick Modes let users save route destinations along with temperature, music, speed, and driving preferences, making it easy to launch personalized settings for any mood or routine with a single tap.
Reflections
One of the most important takeaways was learning how to embrace ambiguity. With autonomous vehicle technology constantly evolving, I had to think beyond existing standards by finding ways to elevate current experiences while proposing ideas that push the boundaries of what's already been done, all while standing mindful of technical feasibility.
I also learned how to break down a complex, intimidating problem into manageable pieces. By approaching the design process step by step despite the time constraint of the academic project, I was able to define challenges and build thoughtful solutions.
Overall, this project has taught me how to design for emerging technology with intention and creativity. It was not only a rewarding experience but also an exciting journey. I look forward to revisiting this work in the future, especially to explore how it can better support accessibility.