Whiteboarding | Autonomous vehicle interior
A new body
Prompt
The prompt is from this article by Dan Shilov.
Designing an interior for an autonomous vehicle
Prompt: An automaker, Edison, has been experimenting with a completely new car design for their model Z vehicle. This car is fully autonomous and doesn’t require any human interaction. As a designer you’ve been asked to reimagine the car interior. What should the interior look like?
Assessment: I’d like to see how you think about blue sky projects, how you define a problem space and generate novel ideas accordingly.
Why
“Humans driving cars is a bug” one Google founder is quoted to have said. Autonomous vehicles are expected to reduce the number of accidents. More so, they will free humans’ time. If humans’ time is freed during transportation, there is case for re-imagining what they could or would like to do in a car. These activities will depend on the duration and the purpose of their car trip.
Who
Hence, the most relevant segmentation of users is by purpose and duration. A few segments that come to mind:
1\ [Short to medium length trips] Commuters going to work.
2\ [Short trips] People going places for errands (doctor’s appointment, groceries, school etc.)
3\ [Long trips] People travelling for leisure (Vacation, road trip, night out etc.)
When & where
For each of these segments, we can think of specific:
1\ [Short to medium length trips] Commuters going to work: I need to start work and take calls. An ergonomic desk, an extra screen to start working, a calm and good looking background to take video conference calls.
2\ [Short trips] People going places for errands (doctor’s appointment, groceries, school etc.): I need to relax on my way to my errand or / and continue what I was doing at home. A lounging space where people can relax, potentially access to entertainment.
3\ [Long trips] People travelling for leisure (Vacation, road trip, night out etc.): I need to sleep if the trip is long and feel refreshed when I’m up. A way to sleep in the car, mabe access to some minimal toiletry or hygiene.
What
The interior of the autonomous vehicle should contain the following:
A\ Comfortable and ergonomic chairs that turn into beds
B\ Screens for video conferencing and entertainment
Solve
The rendering below shows the 3 modes of the car using the 2 components outlined above. The 3 modes echo the 3 use cases outlined above. The 2 screens can also “merge” to become a bigger screen. This allows two people to lounge and watch a movie next to each other or a worker to use a larger screen.
Measure
Success would mean the 3 modes adapt to the 3 use cases we outlined. Hence we should measure:
1\ How often do people use the screens provided during a ride
2\ How often do people switch from work mode to lounge mode or sleep mode
