Autonomous Vehicle Communication System Research & Design
Alliance Innovation Silicon Valley Lab • UX Research & Design
Background
The Alliance is a cross-cultural global partnership working to advance the future of mobility and fleet management through autonomous electric vehicles. During my 6 months at the research lab, I was challenged to design the way Alliance's autonomous vehicles communicate with human agents that ensured safety, efficiency, and rider satisfaction. I collaborated cross-functionally with research and engineering to develop and test an external HMI (Human Machine Interface) prototype for our autonomous vehicles to perform the communication tasks of a human driver.
Role
Design Research
- Literature review
- Focus group analysis
- Moderated In-person Interviews
- Thematic analysis
- Use Case Development
External HMI Design
- Constraints/requirements
- User flows
- RITE Usability Testing / Wizard of Oz
Problem Statement
Communication between drivers and other road users (pedestrians, cyclists, etc.) is constantly present on the road. There are many moments in our on-road experience where we are faced to make quick decisions and informational exchanges with others to ensure traffic safety. Whether it's a driver waving a pedestrian to cross or simply two people exchanging eye contact, we use various forms of social cues to convey our intent and actions. With the emergence of self-driving cars, one important question that arises is, "how do self-driving vehicles communicate with us?"
Solution and Impact
I drove exploratory research by conducting a literature review, field studies, and onsite interviews to gain deeper insights into the complex road system and existing technological solutions. From there, I identified critical use cases in which communication occurs in normal V2P interactions that would pose problematic with self-driving cars. I implemented data-driven insights to define design requirements and created interaction flows for the external Human Machine Interface (HMI) solution. Working across engineering, design, and research, we tested the prototype in 18+ RITE test sessions paired with Wizard of Oz testing and iterated on the HMI designs. My research was foundational for informing the external HMI designs that communicate autonomous vehicles' intent to human road agents. This was critical to Alliance's Autonomous Vehicle R&D which was demonstrated in our annual company demo for c-suite executives.
New Perspective
At Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, I was asked to reimagine and reinvent the user experience of the on-road experience. With the help from ML engineers and designers, together we developed a Human Machine Interface prototype that communicated vehicle intent to road users. It had truly been a blast to work with brilliant minds in this field and be at the forefront of technological innovation. Oh, the infinite possibilities of an AI future!
Due to NDA protection, the disclosure of my work to the public is limited. However, please feel free to reach out and I would be more than happy to discuss more about my research and design work in person.
