A New Interaction Paradigm for Semi-Autonomy
Overview:
The Ford Motor Company has spent the last several years exploring autonomous vehicles. As car use decreases among Gen Z, Ford wants to move into markets that would better serve younger customers more likely to try and purchase electric, semi-autonomous vehicles. My team was tasked with re-envisioning new controls and paradigms for semi-autonomous electric mopeds.
My Role:
Teaming up with a researcher, we identified key pain points for moped riders through primary guerrilla research, synthesis, and rapid low-fidelity prototyping to reimagine how semi-autonomy can create novel, intuitive, and safer riding experiences. As the UX lead, I was responsible for all visual prototyping, including both physical and digital assets.
Duration
7 Weeks
Client
Ford
Team
1 UX Designer (me) + 1 Researcher
TL; DR
The Problem
Micro-mobility adoption faces key challenges in the U.S. due to safety concerns.
The micro-mobility vehicles face multiple challenges in the U.S. when it comes to mass adoption and social acceptance. Insufficient bike lanes and designated parking spaces for micro-mobility vehicles, along with the absence of standardized regulations across regions, contribute to safety concerns and the potential for accidents involving pedestrians and other road users.
The Solution
Our solution prioritizes crucial information delivery, ensures rider visibility in all conditions, and provides intelligent intervention at critical moments.
We have designed a new interaction experience that prioritizes the safety of everyone on the road. Our focus is on ensuring that all crucial information is communicated to the rider without causing cognitive overload. Additionally, our design ensures the rider is always visible under different weather and road conditions. Finally, the semi-autonomy feature adds an extra layer of safety by providing the rider with the right level of alert and intervention, taking over at critical moments.
Feature 1
Head-Up Display (HUD) Helps Riders Keep Their Eyes on the Road
Riders don’t need to look down to gain critical information such as navigation or current speed. They can easily switch between speedometer mode and navigation mode based on their needs.
Feature 2
Semi-Autonomy with the Right Level of Intervention
Unlike cars, take-over moments can be especially dangerous for moped riders if they are unprepared. The semi-autonomy feature provides riders with ample warnings and fail-proof measures before taking over, preventing user errors and addressing edge cases.
Feature 3
Your One-Stop Customization Hub
Effortlessly manage your journeys using the digital dashboard, whether you're saving commonly used routes, checking vehicle status, or locating the nearest charging stations. Designed for convenience, the modular home screen enables riders to seamlessly create shortcuts for their most frequently used tasks.
Foundational Research
Uncovering the Safety Challenges of Moped Riders Through Guerrilla Research
To gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by moped riders, our initial approach involved deploying a range of models to analyze the problem space thoroughly.
Our investigation led us to the streets, where we engaged in Guerrilla Research, directly interviewing moped riders to capture their experiences and identify common issues. We discovered that the U.S. street infrastructure is not optimally designed for mopeds, highlighting significant safety risks and the difficulties of integrating micro-mobility vehicles into the flow of conventional traffic.
Building on these insights, we proceeded to conduct Semi-Structured Interviews with moped riders to delve deeper into their safety concerns. These discussions revealed key issues, such as the riders' limited reaction time, their visibility to other drivers, and the necessity to maintain focus on their surroundings while navigating the streets.
Key Insights
Findings from Affinity Mapping to Address Safety and Usability
Our foundational research provided us with a rich set of data to work with. Using affinity diagrams, we organized our notes by similarity to identify the major reasons people choose mopeds over other types of vehicles and their concerns. Distilling from all the data we have collected, we came out with eight unique insights and picked three that we want to focus on because they are actionable and within the scope of this project. The main three insights are:
1. Visibility is the primary safety concern of moped riders.
2. The ideal level of automation for semi-autonomous vehicles does not impede user balance and reaction time.
3. Riders experience cognitive overload if the dashboard provides too much information.
Opportunities
Transforming Insights into Innovative Design Concepts
Based on our research, we synthesized six key insights regarding moped riders' unmet needs and desires when interacting with their vehicles. Using these insights, we crafted "How might we" statements as a starting point to generate innovative design concepts and identify opportunities to address these challenges.
Usability Testing
Uncovering User Pain Points Through Low-Fidelity Prototype
We conducted user testing with 12 individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying levels of experience in riding mopeds. Participants were instructed to perform a variety of tasks, such as "turning on/off semi-autonomous mode" or "switching between different states of the HUD." Following the tests, we gathered feedback from users, specifically asking about aspects they found confusing; allowing us to identify areas for improvement.
Feedback and Iteration
Refining HUD and Controls Through User Feedback
After the user testing, we made several design adjustments based on user feedback:
Simplifying HUD UI: The first iteration of the Head-up Display created a high level of distraction, preventing users from focusing their attention on the road. Thus, we simplified the design to only display crucial information.
Difficulty interacting with rotary dials: Users didn't fully understand the connection between the physical rotary dial and the UI of the "three modes" displayed on the HUD, so we updated the design to sliders that better mimic the mental model users have for switching between the different modes.
Key Takeaways
Not Losing Sight of User Goals When Designing Novel Interactions
Designing new interaction paradigms for semi-autonomous vehicles is both challenging and rewarding, particularly because this problem space remains relatively unexplored. My team and I had the opportunity to experiment and take risks with our design solutions, including the integration of a head-up display.
While brainstorming various novel micro-interactions and envisioning how users would engage with them, I learned the importance of always keeping the users' goals at the forefront. The appeal of "new features" is meaningless if users find them unhelpful or if they hinder the ultimate goal of a safe and intuitive riding experience. Our final design solution not only enhances rider safety but also provides the right level of assistance and intervention, ensuring that riders still feel in control of their experience.