Project Display
Colors & Typography
Final Design Screens
Final Design Qutcome
We are now in the final stages of our UX case study, focusing on creating polished, high-fidelity designs. These final designs aim to bring together all the insights gathered from research, user flows, and prototyping, ensuring they reflect the needs and expectations of our users.
Default Screen after activating screen with a finger tap.
Switching to dark mode in the map views
Ride & Discover feature of the product
Expanded view of the Ride & Discover feature with detailed
functionalities.
Media Entertainment feature of the product
Create memories feature
AI assistance System for self-driving vehicles - Shaping Passenger Experience"
Introduction
Autonomous vehicles, especially self-driving cabs, are revolutionizing urban mobility by providing safer, more efficient, and driverless travel solutions. Industry leaders like Waymo, Uber, Tesla, and various robotaxi initiatives in China are at the forefront of this transformation. However, despite significant technological advancements, user adoption remains limited due to concerns about trust, control, and the overall user experience.
My Role
Responsible for UI design
Visual Design
UX design
Quantitative Research
Timeline
Sep 2024 - Dec 2024 (8 Weeks)
Team Members
Lori, Will, Yuan
Project Introduction
Project Objective
The objective of this project is to develop a user-centric AI assistant screen for autonomous cabs, incorporating multiple features to address key barriers to user adoption. It aims to build passenger trust in AI-driven vehicles, enhance interaction, and deliver a seamless, reliable travel experience.
My Design Process
My design process for this project began with a focused brainstorming session, during which our team identified and analyzed key challenges faced by passengers in autonomous ride-hailing. This collaborative effort allowed us to clearly define the core problem and establish the project’s focus on improving the ride-hailing experience.
To ensure timely progress, we participated in a structured design sprint, which allowed us to collaborate efficiently and break down the project into achievable milestones.
We then delved into user’s behavior, preferences, and expectations to ensure the design resonated with their needs. This research led to the creation of user personas and further brainstorming to conceptualize and refine features tailored to our users.
Defining Problem
Problem Statement
Design Challenge/Problem statement
The Primary Stakeholders
Primary stakeholders for this project
User Research & Methods
Research Methods
Three primary research methods were employed to derive the final key takeaways and design requirements:
Competitive Analysis: This method evaluated in-vehicle assistant systems offered by leading autonomous vehicle companies to identify existing features, gaps, and opportunities. Insights were used to develop a more user-centric and personalized system based on user behavior and preferences.
User Interviews: Conducted to gain in-depth insights into user needs, preferences, and challenges with cab experiences, uncovering opportunities to design an intuitive and user-centric in-vehicle assistant system.
User Surveys: Focused on understanding users’ major concerns and apprehensions with conventional ride-hailing services (e.g., Uber, Lyft) and autonomous vehicles. This research highlighted key pain points, trust levels, and desired in-vehicle experiences.
User Research Documentation
Key Takeaways From the Research
Challenges with Traditional Taxis:
Issues like drivers not showing up or inaccurate location tracking.
Passengers often feel restricted by the driver’s presence, impacting their ability to relax or converse freely.
User Needs and Preferences:
Communication features to overcome language barriers and improve clarity.
Personalized driving styles tailored to individual needs (e.g., relaxed or efficient driving)
Opportunities in Autonomous Cabs:
Clear communication about driving decisions to build trust and ensure safety.
Real-time trip adjustments and proactive, personalized suggestions enhance user satisfaction.
System Design Priorities:
Include features that provide greater passenger control and adaptability to various contexts and preferences.
User Personas
User personas were developed based on insights gathered through comprehensive user research methods, including interviews, surveys, and behavioral observations. These methods provided a deep understanding of users’ goals, needs, pain points, and preferences.
Brainstorming
Initial Concept Sketching
We began by sketching ideas to visualize key user interactions and flows, focusing on the following parts of user journey:
booking through the mobile app
locating and entering the vehicle
onboarding with customizable features
creating an engaging and personalized trip experience
streamlining the process for exiting the vehicle
Initial Concept Sketches
“How might we” prompts & Card sorting exercises
After identifying users’ pain points and developing user personas, we moved on to collaborative brainstorming exercises. These included refining our design question with “How might we” prompts and conducting card sorting exercises.
“How Might We” Prompts
Design Requirements
Design Requirements for Autonomous Cab Experience
Brainstorming exercises played a pivotal role in shaping the design requirements by turning abstract ideas into clear, actionable goals. These exercises helped us focus on the following concrete design requirements:
User Flows
User Flow Designs
The brainstorming sessions provided a solid foundation for designing user flows, which were specifically developed to map out the onboarding experience, main navigation, and core features of the product. These flows outlined the step-by-step journey users would take, ensuring a seamless introduction to the platform, intuitive navigation, and easy access to key functionalities. This process ensured that the design addressed both user needs and project goals effectively.
User Flow -1 Onboarding Experience
User Flow -2 Map Navigation + Basic Features
User Flow -3 Main layout features
Prototyping
Designing prototypes
The prototypes allowed us to visualize and test the onboarding experience, main navigation, and core features defined in the user flows. Starting with low-fidelity prototypes, we focused on ensuring the flow and structure aligned with user needs before progressing to high-fidelity prototypes for a more realistic and interactive representation.
Prototyping
User Testing
Introduction: Evaluation Plan - User Testing
This evaluation plan focuses on testing the features outlined in the initial Product Requirement Document (PRD). The user testing phase aims to validate the functionality, usability, and overall user experience of these features. Feedback gathered during this process will help identify areas for improvement and guide modifications or additions to ensure the product meets user needs effectively.
User Testing Plan
Key Findings From User-testing
Onboarding: Informative but lengthy; streamline and balance visual and auditory elements.
Map Features: Smooth functionality; improve color contrast for pick-up/drop-off points.
Comfort Features: Well-received controls; clarify the "Dry" feature and refine "Party Mode" under Zen modes.
Entertainment: "Ride & Discover" works well; simplify "Create a Memory" for better understanding.
Safety: Highly valued; add clarity to "Performance" metric in Vehicle Details.
Overall Improvements: Enhance visual accessibility, simplify feature names, and provide clearer descriptions where needed.
User Testing Detailed Documentation
Click the link to access the detailed documentation for user testing.
Feature Development
Feature Prioritization
After incorporating feedback from user testing, we developed a comprehensive plan to implement our features with the necessary improvements. This process included detailed roadmap planning and feature prioritization, ensuring that the most impactful updates were addressed first while maintaining alignment with user needs and project goals.
Feature Roadmap
Main Feature Plan
Feature Priority List
Feature Priority List
Final Feature Cards
Lets Talk More
Thank You!
Shreya Saxena
2024