With most infotainment systems currently on the market being unintuitive or have several shortcomings in terms of usability, there is an urgent need for better alternatives. I realised that there was a potential for a better in-car experience when I finally got fed up with my family's constant nagging about connecting the phone to the car speakers or entering an intermediate destination.
To embark on this journey I first started talking to car owners around my family and let them voice their concerns. The insights I had gathered were valuable yet insufficient, so I went online to continue my research. I found a few credible surveys and reports on the automotive industry conducted by industry researchers.
With strong enthusiasm I began to put ideas together and sort through the data in order to narrow down what issues I should set my focus on. This project appealed to me in particular, since the issues presented are still very relevant and raise most concerns among car owners. I wanted to create viable alternative for today's market and not something overly futuristic.
Over the course of the next few winter months I set out to follow a vague schedule to finish the project before 15th of January. With my finals coming up in late January I had little spare time and needed to manage the project as efficiently as possible. This process taught me the importance of project management in order to meet tight deadlines & increase productivity.
I have faced several challenges from initial idea to final product. The idea of redesigning the interior of a car came to me much earlier in the past, but I was never able to execute it due to my rather limited skills in UI design and 3D rendering at the time. I wanted to build a product that would effectively solve the main problems, so I had to approach the project from the ground up and conducted lots of research to gain a better understanding of the current usability constraints. By adopting a structured design approach I was able to obtain a much more defined end result.
While scavenging the Internet for reliable sources on car infotainment, I came across a few reports from industry analysts and consumer surveys. J.D. Powers was the primary source that formed the basis of my analysis besides the interviews I had conducted with relatives. Most of the publications I found on this topic cited the Initial Quality (IQS) and Consumer Report surveys.
Here is a gallery of some of the important things I found during my research. I've highlighted the key points.
After I completed my research, I categorised the end users into two user groups to get a clearer picture of what their needs were. This allowed me to further identify the product's target audience and define a specific user persona, which I could then refer to at later stages of the design process in order to remain on track. The final step was to write a problem and opportunity statement as well as adding a list of features that I considered to include in the final product.
Constructing the information architecture was one of the simpler tasks in the project however required quite a bit of work to lay out properly. As a teenager I haven’t had a lot of experience using the in-car controls, so I went into my family’s BMW to explore every corner of the ‘Connected Drive’ system. I mapped out all of the necessary functionality that I wanted to include into my design and then compared it to other automakers systems.
Despite this I did not have the time to go into full depth in the menus since I was only looking to recreate the most relevant features that presented major issues. By looking at various implementations of design in other cars I was able to take the best parts as inspiration to build a defined information structure for my system.
By drafting a lot of low fidelity wireframes I got a clearer vision of how a user would interact with the final product.
This process has proven to be very effective for me, since the rapid experimentation allowed me to shape my initial ideas into a functional concept. It is a messy part of the process but that’s how you generate & consolidate your best ideas.
For inspiration I looked at other products on the market from a wide range of car manufacturers. As I progressed towards the high fidelity concept stage I started looking at colour and various art styles. Consequently I visited a few of my favourite platforms for creative inspiration in order to get a sense of the stylistic direction I wanted to explore.
At the beginning stages of concepting I struggled quite a bit to get the design right. My first design was made with a different layout which had to be changed to minimize the button tap count to reach a desired menu.
This is the navigation main screen where you have to enter a new destination. You have buttons for the most relevant options and a suggestion panel on the right hand side to find nearby Points of Interest.
This screen shows the ‘New Destination’ tab again with the ‘Recent Trips’ button selected. The layout is very modular so accessing another option does not require a ‘back’ functionality.
The search feature works by trackpad input and voice control. A keyboard however can be enabled in the advanced settings as an alternative.
On the left the users are presented with the ‘Current Trip’ tab inside the built-in navigation system. The map shows you crucial information for the route guidance with well-timed visual cues for following the instructions with ease. In the lower window the user can manage there trip with a tap of a button. By using the dedicated ‘Route Planner’ functionality the user can add additional waypoints without a hassle.
Finding the best route is usually a job for the navigation system and does not always work as expected. With a dedicated ‘Route Options’ tab users can easily set their preferences to find the route that fits their needs. Previously a user had to go through submenus and settings to select only the most basic of options. Real time traffic data helps make this experience become an overview of the road conditions ahead.
This screen shows the AI voice input in split view. After a user presses the search button they may be presented with this search widget. Results are then immediately displayed in the map view with further information and pinpointed location. The importance with any of the map views is that it doe not become too cluttered. It is an interactive space where gestures are used to zoom, tilt and rotate around. Therefore a display of more information would interfere with the whole purpose of a map - to orientate.
Here the user is presented with a fullscreen page of the AI assistant. Notice that the ‘Media Widget’ at the bottom is a fixed element and does not change positions. The only time the controls disappear is when system overlays e.g. incoming phone calls, alerts and the search widget is active.
When a user switches between driving modes which occurs by pressing the physical buttons in the car, they are presented with a system overlay that serves as a confirmation that the ‘Driving Dynamics’ have been changed.
Overlays usually have a timeout feature where the disappear after a certain amount of time. Nevertheless overlays as well as widgets can be manually dismissed by dragging down or tapping on the indicator handle.
The ‘Media Widget’ is a stripped down version of the main media application which can be turned of in the media settings. By dragging up on the fixed media controls users will gain quick access to their song queue and favourite content.
The Media application offers users to connect to their favourite streaming services and browse their content library like on any other device.
The ‘Media Widget’ also serves as a way to change the player input to other sources of media such as radio
Users are able to connect their phones via bluetooth, make calls, view their text conversations and navigate to the contacts given address.
The ‘Vehicle Settings’ is a fullscreen application to give the user an overview of the options at one glance without the need for scrolling. I took most of the functionality from Tesla and BMW’s in-car system and tried to improve the organization
of each option in the categories.
In addition, the media application has a settings tab to manage sound preferences and bluetooth connectivity. These settings are also listed in the fullscreen vehicle settings.
In the vehicle settings the user can interact with the cars hardware as well as set the navigation, communication & media preferences.
The AI assistant is optimized to control the whole infotainment system. Therefore visual distractions are avoided and interaction solely require auditory attention. I am not completely satisfied with the outcome of the HUD since the radical design choice of simplifying it to a bare minimum might upset people who are used to the conventional display of information.
Although I wanted to create the Climate Controls with physical knobs and buttons I found myself under time pressure.
Nevertheless I designed a set of digital screens with haptic sensors which were also a great place to put the controls for volume, application buttons and vehicle alerts.
As I continue to improve this project in the future I will design a climate control interface with dedicated
physical interactions along with the rest of the car’s interior.
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