Precise trailer hitching usually requires a spotter and multiple manual corrections.
The need to constantly adjust personalized settings in a shared vehicle is eliminated with UWB-enabled profiles.
The specificities of the driving experience were kept front and center when designing the layout of the center console screen.
The vehicle experience starts before the driver enters and ends after they leave.
Our directive was to identify where the centimeter-level precision and seamless detection of UWB could deliver the most value.
After conducting research on the technology, I quickly realized that a common benefit of UWB is personalization and automation. In a vehicle, I could easily identify several types of manual activities which were the problems waiting for a UWB solution.
3 of the 4 participants said that they frequently share their vehicle with a spouse or family members. Reconnecting their phones for using the infotainment was a highly cited annoyance for these drivers.
100% of participants who share a vehicle always manually adjust their seat, but rarely adjust the mirrors or steering column due to the effort required. This is a major safety issue as well as a compromise on comfort.
Both participants who use a trailer with their vehicles noted that hitching is a multi-person, high-stress task that takes up a lot of time and often ends in an argument.
To overcome these pain points, I came up with a driver-vehicle-trailer system that automates the high-friction parts of the user journey using UWB.
When designing the interface, I applied the most relevant UX laws and heuristics to automotive design.
I initially thought drivers wanted a 'Personalization Hub.' However, testing with users revealed that it was more intuitive to personalize the individual features under their respective sections rather than under a profile section.
By leveraging UWB’s pinpoint accuracy, the design automatically identifies the driver, loads their ergonomic and comfort preferences on entry, and empowers them with hands-free trailer hitching that removes one of the most frustrating tasks of driving a large vehicle.
At the end of this project, I had the opportunity to present my designs to stakeholders from the General Motors design team.
