Development of the interior design of an autonomously driving car
S. Goesslinghoff · 2016
Due to enormous technological progress during the last decade, fully autonomous cars are closer than ever to becoming a reality. However, the precise direction this development will take is not clear yet and car manufacturers are desperately trying to come up with innovative concepts. Regarding interior design most of these concepts come down to rotating seats, a retracting steering wheel and an overload of digitally presented information, representing rather a technology push than design driven innovation. In this thesis the future desires of the user are put first. By looking at the domain of human mobility in the year 2035, the “loss of irrationality” is identified as one of the biggest issue to people in that domain and therefore serves as a starting point for design. The loss of irrationality refers to the circumstance that there are more and more laws introduced which limit irrational behavior in public spaces such as drinking and smoking. Nowadays, a car is the most common everyday object that still allows for irrational use. It is a symbol for adventure and especially popular because of its archaic attraction. However, due to steady progress in advanced driving assistance systems, the irrational aspect of driving gradually decreased over the last decades and will be completely eliminated with the introduction of fully autonomously driving cars. This is not about people being afraid of the “new rationality” to come, it is about people being afraid of letting go the irrational. And this is equally true to the user as well to the car companies, whose brand identities are built upon those irrational aspects. Taking that as a starting point, the author uses a gamification approach in order to design an interior concept for autonomously driving cars that motivates the user to embrace irrational behavior and serves the car manufacturers as a means to effectively communicate their brand identity. The final outcome of this thesis is an instrument panel for the next generation Ford Mustang of the year 2025 which will be capable of highly autonomous driving (SAE level 4). It allows the customer to add a certain personality to their car when being in autonomous mode. A different personality or character will show a different driving behavior. The car’s personality is represented by an avatar in the form of a virtual animation displayed in the instrument panel. It is only visible and active during autonomous mode in order to create a clear distinction towards the conventional mode. As part of the gamified experience, the user is given the possibility to level up their avatar. The higher the level, the more personalized the experience becomes. Although the actual game design is not included in the scope of this thesis, the author gives an overview about different game mechanics as a starting point for further development of the concept. Since the benefits of autonomous driving can only be fully realized when they go along with the widespread use of car sharing and car pooling services, all avatar related information are saved on a token. Once the avatar is connected to the car the avatar is ‘unleashed‘. While this concept can be implemented by any OEM, it can be adapted to the brand identity of the respective brand. This project gives Ford, the long time innovator in the automotive space, an opportunity to embrace a completely different approach to autonomous driving, the next big step in the industry. They would differentiate themselves from all other players in offering a unique solution that increases their customer’s brand loyalty through emotitional appeal.