Self Driving Car Interface
UX/UI DesignPROJECT BRIEF & SUMMARYBRIEF
The brief of this project was to create a seamless and intuitive user experience for passengers in an electric fully self driving vehicle. What features gain importance in a vehicle where the driver does not need to pay attention to the road? And what features or amenities could be added to keep the passengers engaged during a drive?

ABOUT
In the quest to build a successful experience for users, understanding what works (and what doesn't) with existing interfaces is crucial. This starts with UI deconstructions for existing car interfaces. Then user research to understand the needs and expectations of future self-driving car passengers. By deconstructing 
existing interfaces in vehicles, we can learn from their strengths and identify common user pain points.
This analysis informed my design decisions, providing valuable information on what users do and don’t want to see. It also gives insight into areas with opportunity for new ways to interact, creating an experience that is intuitive and new to users.



TOOLS
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender








De-Construction






Asset Inventory & Flowchart
 BMW 2 Series (2017)

Positives

• Rotary dial is an intuitive method of navigating the infotainment and features shortcuts for common actions
  
• Large tiles for frequently used apps that can be moved around 
for the user’s preference make it easy to navigate the most frequently used functions
  
• Consistent layout makes navigating menus while driving intuitive
  
• Physical buttons and knobs for common actions like volume and climate control reduce the need to look away from the road
  
• Menu redundancy means there are multiple routes to achieve common tasks such as connecting a smartphone to the car

Negatives

• 3 tile layout limits number of common actions that are immediately accessible to the driver
  
• Home menu tiles are shortcuts only and don’t allow quick changing of settings from the home menu
  
• Some main menu items have limited functionality, Connected Drive only has useful features with an active subscription. 
  
• Notifications has the same home screen priority as “My Vehicle” which has dozens of submenus and options
  
• Lack of variety in home option widgets/tiles

Flowchart
Porsche Taycan (2023)

Positives

• Quick actions shortcuts remain visible in side bar
  
• Dual screen layout additional access to common functions such as climate control
  
• Repetition of common shortcuts across both screens for menus and controls
  
• Integrated media apps such as Spotify and Apple Music reduce the need to switch between multiple infotainment interfaces (e.g. PCM to Carplay)
  
• Fully digital interface allows for extensive customization options since actions are no longer tied to physical buttons

Negatives

• Upper touchscreen and lower touchscreen require different levels of input force. Bottom screen requires a firm press that results in haptic feedback but the top screen does not
  
• Some screens scroll horizontally and some scroll vertically. So it is not always clear when there is more content available to the user
  
• Home screen starts in the second position, limiting pinned widgets to 3, and requiring users to scroll left/backwards to reach the first page of the interface
  
• Lack of any physical buttons to control common functions such as climate control vents pulls the driver’s focus away from the road
  
• The quantity of menus and functions is large. Sometimes represented by text, icons, or tabs. Giving the user too many options, making it hard to determine which functions are more common/important to the user.