A Change of Perspective

Abstract

With the rise of automated vehicles, a new road user had to be designed, an autonomous system that needs to integrate into an ecosystem of human-human interaction. Traditionally automotive UX is focused on the interaction between the driver and the vehicle. This new design challenge however comprised a change of perspective from driver/inside to road user/outside and from a system that is steered by a human being to an intelligent system that proactively makes decisions in a public space. A new approach was necessary to handle this change of perspective in the design process and to instill it into the heads of the stakeholders. We modified a user centered process to satisfy the challenge of designing the automated vehicle as a social actor. For example, we designed for acceptance by defining a character based on hopes and concerns of the public. The flow of communication was analyzed and intent based visual and acoustic signals were designed and evaluated in a purpose-built simulator. The lessons we learned from this process might also be applicable to the design of other autonomous, public facing systems.