Applications of mobile diaries in mobility research

Mobile diaries can add huge value in mobility research and help companies better understand their customers´ needs and requirements. This article shows three great mobility applications and explains how Opiria´s mobile diary method can help companies improve their products and services

1. Automotive

Car manufacturers constantly need to launch attractive new models with more and greater features to the market to maintain or increase their market share. The competition is permanently increasing and customer´s preferences and requirements are changing and evolving.

Therefore they need to understand how customers are using the actual car portfolio with the currently available features, what can be improved and what are the needs for the next generation of cars.

Possible questions are:

• How do customers get along with their new car and how easy to learn and helpful are new comfort, entertainment and assistance features?
• Which features and functions are they missing?
• Do novel driver assistance features support the driver and make the drive more relaxed and safer?
• What is the feedback from drivers of electric vehicles about the advantages and disadvantages of the new drive technology in their everyday use and how can it be further optimized?

Using mobile ethnography car manufacturers can get real-life feedbacks and experiences from customers right in the moment of truth using their cars and all features those cars are offering.

Based on those feedbacks cars can be systematically improved to meet the needs and requirements of their drivers. This secures the long-term success and an increasing market share.

2. Trucks & Busses

In the truck industry connectivity solutions, digitalization and driver assistance systems are gaining more and more importance whereby the cabin interior keeps playing a very important role. In these different areas the market success of a solution is heavily determined by how well it is perceived by the truck drivers.

Because of this it´s key to understand how truck drivers are using currently available solutions and new concepts and what needs to be changed or is missing to perfectly fulfill their requirements.

Possible questions are:

• How are new cabin interior designs perceived (e.g. new interior cockpit designs, new materials & colors, re-designed sleeper cabins) and what is desired/missing (e.g. wellness/fitness equipment)?
• How are novel driver assistance systems like lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control or even platooning influencing truck drivers´ comfort and safety perception?
• How supportive and easy to understand are new digital features such as “predictive maintenance”, “last mile information to customers” or “location based services”?

With the help of mobile ethnography truck manufacturers are able to get truck drivers´ feedbacks and opinions when using their trucks and these features in their daily lives. This provides truck manufacturers with an unprecedented understanding of truck drivers´ requirements and allows them to design future trucks exactly according to the wishes of their customers.

3. Means of transportation

The requirements of travellers are constantly changing. To be successful as a means of transportation (e.g. bus, train, plane), it doesn’t only have to be fast and comfortable but ideally fulfills all needs of travellers and constantly surprises them with new unique features. In particular, the rapid pace of digitization represents a special field of tension from technical possibilities and human needs.

Possible questions are:

• How can the comfort and well-being of the traveler be further improved?
• What are the requirements regarding new seating technologies (e.g. seat massager, workout/fitness seat), seat layouts and the infrastructure available (e.g. Wifi, plugs, screens, trays, etc.)?
• What additional digital services are expected from the travelers?

By using mobile ethnography a human-centred approach can be adopted to the design process of future concepts and solutions for means of transportation. The commuters feedback in the moment of truth allows manufacturers and carriers of busses, trains and plains to put themselves in the travellers’ frame of mind. This enables them to select the right ones from the wide variety of possibilities in the future development and optimization of means of transportation as well as to develop completely new ideas and concepts.