PROJECT TITAN December 5, 2015
IXDS6123 - Data Visualization Professor: Jason Occhipinti Anthony Moore
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Contents Introduction
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Research Personas
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Development Mood Board Inventory Information Architecture Concept Sketches
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Usability Testing Implementation Conclusion
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Second Iteration Medium-Fidelity Wireframes Medium-Fidelity Prototype
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High-Fidelity Wireframes
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Final Iteration and Design High-Fidelity Prototype
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Resources
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Introduction Recent activity at Apple has lead industry analysts to infer that Apple is preparing to enter the automobile industry. Project Titan, as it has been labeled, is expected to reach its finality in 201920. Speculation is that the vehicle will be semi-autonomous and will come with the celebrated user experience that has helped Apple rise to the top. The focus of this document is the design of the dashboard for Apple’s vehicle. Research into current and future automobile market trends set the framework for the design. Attention has been given to simplicity in the design of the user interface presenting the user with familiar controls while concealing certain information from the driver unless needed.
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Research What Apple’s Auto Ambitions Mean for Tesla [1]
While some anticipate that Apple’s introduction into the car market creates difficulty for other electric automobile makers, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk believes that Apple will actually boost the market. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas goes on to say that Apple would become “very, very significant” in the industry. He believes that the familiarity people have with Apple products would become more accepting of the car and argues “If consumers were offered a car service performed by a device with the words ‘Designed by Apple in California’ imprinted in the doorsill, immersed in the familiar HMI [human-machine interface] and supported by a physical infrastructure of charging and service stations – we believe there could be far more opportunities to adopt an Apple car as a mode of transport.” This familiarity that Apple brings to the UI is the reason their icons have been incorporated in the mood board for this project. I fully expect that by the time the car is released that the icons will look different but importance should be placed on remaining true to Apple’s UI.
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Apple’s Jeff Williams: ‘The Car Is the Ultimate Mobile Device’ [2]
When Apple executive Jeff Williams was quoted saying that “the car is the ultimate mobile device” he mainly had reference to Apple CarPlay which currently integrates the iOS into existing cars. However, this article leads us to think differently about the future potential of the automobile. If one thinks of the car as a mobile device it allows them to see more clearly its possibilities in terms of information or data that it is able to communicate.
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Apple Car – Apple’s Electric Vehicle Project [3]
It is expected that Apple will keep pace with Google and the car introduced in 2020 will be at least simi-autonomous. This assumption will be given consideration while designing the dashboard. Also, with 180 Billion dollars in the bank, Apple has sufficient resources for Project Titan. With the latest exodus of key figures from other car manufacturers, such as Tesla, Ford, GM, A123 Systems and etc. Apple appears to be solidifying the necessary human resources to have a major impact on the automobile industry.
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Cars are already undergoing ‘massive change,’ with no help from Apple [4]
Yahoo! Finance underscores the connectivity of cars (Internetted cars.) While this connectivity will no doubt provide enhanced entertainment value, the real significance of connectivity lies in the ability for software to be updated automatically and the capability to detect and fix potential problems; something that is already being done at Tesla.
Additional Resources Apple isn’t going to take over your dashboard, but it will make it a lot easier to get apps into your car. [5] Tesla Apps - Demonstrates the apps included in the Tesla dashboard. Apps are interactive and provide users the ability to see the information that is displayed. [6] Whats inside the the Tesla Model S Dashboard - gives a perspective on the technology behind the dashboard and the innovativeness of Tesla to do for the car industry what Apple has for the phone industry in terms of usability. [7] Mobility of the future - McKinsey & Company - Excerpt: The next generation of consumers are buyers with “a twist.” New market research results in Germany dispel conventional wisdom. In particular, the research reveals that young people still strive for car ownership and express continued high and car-centered mobility needs. Anew generation of consumers – mobile communicators – is emerging, fueling two key trends: media integration and car sharing. [8]
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Personas
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Jack Johnson Age: 37 Education: Master of Science Employment: Mechanical Engineer Marital Status: Single Location: Los Angeles, CA
“Valuable time is wasted each day during my commute. My car should allow me to do as much as I can to counter that. “ Background Jack works in the construction industry as a mechanical engineer. His schedule is busy and he uses technology to his advantage to help him keep pace with the demands placed on him. Jack places a premium on simplicity when it comes to technology and is easily frustrated when technology is difficult to use. He works as part of a creative team and he expects perfection from himself and others on the team. Jack is extroverted and enjoys watching the big game at the local bar. While he is not working or spending time with his friends, Jack stays connected to his family.
Vehicle Needs
• Environmentally Green • Connectivity • Entertainment • Autonomous • Voice Activated
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Beverly Adams Age: 41 Education: Master of Arts Employment: Designer Marital Status: Married Location: New York, NY
“My car is an extension of my home. I expect the same conveniences with technology in my vehicle that I do at home.” Background Beverly is a fashion designer in New York City. Her job demands that she pays attention to detail and this characteristic carries over into her personal life. Her home is inundated with technology because she finds that it simplifies her life. Environmental issues are important to Beverly and she plays an active part in organizations that promote biodiversity and sustainability. As such, she keeps up to date on current issues such as global warming and the science that can effect change with environment.
Vehicle Needs
• Internet • Spotifiy Music • GPS Guided • Voice Interaction • Comfort and Style
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Development Given what we know, or can reasonably speculate about the Apple car, the dashboard has the potential to provide meaningful information in ways not experienced before. The following mood board captures this connectivity and capability to provide information. The color palette I have chosen will use the softer colors of blue and teal for most of the instrumentation while the other three complimentary colors will offer alternative visuals for messages, errors and etc.
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Sleek
Conne
Information
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ectivity 16
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Inventory During the development phase of the project a lot of energy went into listing all the components and data that the user would be able to control with the dashboard. Since the vehicle would be driven manually on occasions, the user interface design and usability tests would later reveal that the inventory was too distracting for the driver of the vehicle. Following is a list of these components.
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• GPS • Points of Interest • Trip Distance • Compass • Speed • Wipers • Window Washers • Lights • Hazard Lights • Sunroof • Rear windshield wiper • Battery • Tire Pressure • Odometer • Alignment Monitor • Temperature • Seat Heaters • Conditions Outdoors • Forecast
• Defrost • Passenger and Driver Zones • Phone • Music • Texting • Internet Radio • Stereo • EQ/Tone/Bass/Treble • DVD/Camera Control • Noise Cancellation • Facetime • Speedometer • Battery Low Alert • Remaining Distance/Time on Trip • System Notification (outdoor lights, mechanical failures) • Battery Problems
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Information Architecture
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Concept Sketches
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Dashboard
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A. Tactile button controls • The left button controls the volume of the system (music, phone, DVD). It is given a dedicated position to support ease of access on occasions when the volume must be adjusted immediately. • The right button controls the Current Panel (F) display. Up-and-down button selects menu options on the Options Panel (G) for the current panel while the left-to-right button toggles through the different panels. B. Siri • This UI element will activate Siri so that the driver can converse with the system. C. Information Alerts • This section of the dashboard will be muted until the system needs to communicate with the driver the status of certain devices such as seatbelts and bright light settings. D. Critical Alerts • Muted until something is critically wrong with the car that needs immediate attention. E. Persistent Information Panel • This information is determined to be necessary and will remain visible to the driver at all times. F. Current Panel • The main display area for the currently selected panel. G. Options Panel • Available options for the currently selected panel. H. Left and Right turning signals. I. Trip Progress Indicator • Informs the driver by lighting up from left to right, showing the progress toward the next destination point.
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Persistent Information Panel The information on this panel is always visible to the driver. After research and consideration for the data that is most used by the driver, it was determined that the following informational items are the ones most commonly used: • • • • • •
Speed Current Time Arrival Time to destination Now Playing Outside Temperature and Condition Inside Temperature
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Menu Options Panel These options will appear in the Options Panel of the dashboard. The driver will be able to navigate this set of menus but selecting the up-and-down buttons of the tactile button control on the right of the steering. Once the driver has navigated to the desired option she can press OK to select that option. • • • • •
Navigation (pictured right) Environmental Systems Mechanical Entertainment
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Current Panel When an option is selected the Current Panel will change accordingly and the driver can then navigate any options in the Current Panel (e.g. turning on the heat, air, defrost, etc.) To return navigation back to the Menu Options panel the driver can press the right arrow on the right tactile control button. The following sketches (GPS, Current Destination, Compass) show a sample of what the driver will typically see in the Current Panel depending on which menu options she has selected.
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Current Panel Sub-Menu The sub-menu of the Current Panel allows the driver to further interact with the dashboard when the selected menu option (Navigation, Environmental, Systems and etc.) has additional options. For example, as displayed here: 1. The driver uses the left and right navigational controls to select Environmental in the Options Panel 2. Once the Environmental options are displayed, the driver can press OK on the tactile button which will allow the driver to use the up and down navigational controls to select options for Heat, Air, Fan, Defrost and Temperature. 3. When finished, the right button can be used to escape out of the Current Panel back to the Option Panel.
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Usability Testing
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METHOD For the usability test, two individuals (Eric and Sandy) participated and were presented with a paper prototype of the dashboard interface. Each participant was asked specific questions to which they responded by interacting with the prototype. After answering these specific questions I then allowed them to give me unprompted feedback on the design.
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Implementation
Question “Do the controls on the steering column make sense?� Neither one of the users were able to look at the buttons and know for sure what they controlled. How to interact with them was obvious to them both. Sandy was able to tell that the button on the left was a power button of sort and they both recognized that the buttons on the right were used to select something but did not know for sure. As I explained to them what functions of the dashboard were controlled by the UI controls they both were able to grasp the concept. Eric made the statement that when he gets into a car for the first time that he always plays with the controls before understanding what they control.
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Question “Can you tell me what you would expect when you interact with the left-most tactile button (Media?)?� The media UI element controls the volume of the speaker system. Once oriented, the users were able to interact with the UI element. They both understood immediately that pushing the up arrow would turn up the volume and pressing the down arrow turned it down.
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Question “Can you tell me what you would expect when you interact with the right-most tactile button (Menu Navigation?)�
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The Menu Navigation button took a little bit to explain and is where I received most of my unprompted feedback. This UI element was designed to control the navigation of the dashboard panels (Current and Options Panels.) During this phase of the usability test I asked each of the participants to do specific tasks such as locating phone contacts, battery information and etc. or to navigate to the information that was most important to them. As I watched the participants navigate I realized that the design need some work to make it more intuitive. The original taxonomy of the design called for the following groups of controls: • • • • •
Navigation Environmental Systems Mechanical Entertainment
The left and right UI buttons rotate through each of these categories. When the options are displayed in the Options Panel, the up and down arrows are used to select the options within that panel, e.g. Comfort, Outdoor Conditions, Forecast, etc. The interaction with these controls was intuitive and did exactly what the user had imagined once the control was explained. Where the design broke down was with the OK button in the center of this UI element. The purpose of the OK UI element was to allow the driver to select, and then navigate options in the Current Panel. E.g. if the driver were to navigate to the Environmental Options Panel and select press OK on the Comfort icon, she would be afforded with options for turning on the Air, Heat, Defrost, Heated Seats and etc. Eric indicated that this was too difficult to navigate. We talked about how convenient it is currently to adjust these options in automobiles and how this UI actually made it harder. Sandy was able to confirm this flaw too.
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Question Can you tell me what you would expect when you interact with the button in the middle of the steering wheel (Siri?) Both test subjects knew that the button at the center of the steering wheel was how you would interact with Siri.
Question Does the overall layout of the dashboard panels (Persistent Information, Current and Options) make sense? Neither test subject had any suggestions regarding how the information could be better organized.
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Question Do you think the Options Panel should be moved from the dashboard to the steering wheel and presented as a touch screen, instead of navigating with the tactile buttons? Given that the vehicle is semi-autonomous, neither test subject seemed to think this was a good idea. The justification was that it is much easier to keep their eyes on the road and feel the buttons on the steering column than to have to look down at a screen in order to interact with it. We also discussed the feasibility of moving it to a center panel but felt that the tactile buttons were more suitable. These options would make more sense in a fully autonomous vehicle.
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Conclusion After the usability testing I began to realize that I was trying to do too much with the design. Eric and I talked about how the design could be simplified without compromising its usefulness. As we discussed the possibilities, we talked about the navigation of the Current Panel and how difficult it was to maneuver. I came to the conclusion that each of the options in the Current Panel such as turning on the air conditioning, heater, wipers or lights needed to be taken out of the design. The navigation of the menu system proved to be too difficult and was actually a step back in regard to what drivers are accustomed to. At this point I decided that these types of controls are needed at a moment’s notice. Imagine having your windshield sprayed with water by a truck as it passes by and trying to quickly navigate to the wipers to clear your windshield. It became apparent that these UI elements needed to be removed and replaced with more traditional UI elements in order for the driver to respond more quickly in these situations. As such, in the second iteration the dashboard became more an informational. However, there still would be moments that the driver would need to interact with the system beyond just retrieving information.
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Second Iteration In the second iteration of the wireframes, I introduced an iPad attached to the center console. The Menu Navigation buttons were simply too difficult for the users to navigate. The iPad offers a way for the driver (or passenger assisted) to interact with the dashboard when it is needed. Once the driver selects an option where further interaction is required, the iPad shows the UI for that specific interaction. I opted for this option over placing a touch screen on the steering wheel for two reasons. 1. Safety: Having the iPad on the center console is a much more natural fit for the driver. She can relax her arm on the middle console and interact with the iPad comfortably. 2. Apple’s 3D Touch: In September of this year Apple introduced its new 3D touch for the iPhone 6 and 6s. This new technology is pressure sensitive and provides more ways to interact with the device. In my design the iPad will be mirrored on the dash allowing the driver to see how she is interacting with the iPad. She can see the position of her finger on the screen, navigate through her contacts, lightly tap for more information or press firmly to call a particular contact.
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Because of the introduction of the iPad, I removed the OK button from the Menu Navigation button and used that space to offer an affordance to communicate what it is used for. For the Media control on the left of the steering wheel I added UI elements so that the user could interact with phone. The original inventory of information has been reduced to reflect a more simple and intuitive navigation system. The users in the usability test indicated that some of the information was just simply unnecessary such as: • Tire pressure – there is no need to know this unless there is a problem. Since an warning light is part of the alert system this information was removed • Alignment monitor • Wipers, Hazard Lights, Window Washer – removed in favor of a more traditional UI approach
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Medium-Fidelity Wireframes
Following are medium-fidelity wireframes for each of the viewing states of the dashboard.
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Navigation GPS: this is the default screen for the dashboard. Since the driver cannot interact directly with the Current Panel the iPad displays the home screen.
Points of Interest: notice how the display on the iPad changes allowing the driver or passenger to interact with the system. From here the driver can select a particular POI.
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Trip
Compass
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Destination
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Environmental
Systems
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Entertainment Music
Contacts
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Safari Safari will be voice activated allowing the user to use the Internet hands-free.
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Medium-Fidelity Prototype For the prototype, the stationary individual alert icons (engine light, tire pressure and etc.) have been removed from the dashboard in favor of a more dynamic presentation of these alerts when they occur. Prototype location: http://anthonyamoore.com/dataVisualization/projecta/protoMedFi/home.html
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High-Fidelity Wireframes
First Iteration
GPS
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Points of Interest
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Trip Information
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Compass
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Destination
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Environment
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Systems
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Music
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Contacts
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Safari
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Final Iteration and Design After a final user review, a decision was made to change directions with the design in one key area: safety. After the usability testing the interface of the dashboard was reduced to be more intuitive. Still, the design offered too much of a distraction to the driver while the car was being driven manually. The key difference in the design is that I removed some of the information from the dashboard and “hid� this information to the driver. Still, the driver can toggle through the screen options to find more detail should she need it. The up and down UI elements on the menu control of the steering wheel now allow the driver to change radio stations more easily. These UI elements originally controlled the menu options located in the center of the dashboard.
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Additional features added: • a touch screen on the center panel for climate control in the vehicle. This easily delivers these UI elements to the driver while freeing up the iPad on the center console to be used when in self-driving mode • a driving mode UI element on the back lower right of the steering wheel that allows the driver to switch between manual and self-driving mode
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iPad integration with Vehicle As part of the final design the iPad was integrated with car through Siri for voice activated commands which affords further interaction between driver and vehicle. The figure here displays a list of local restaurants in the area that the driver asked Siri to locate. The driver can then interact with touch and voice to have the vehicle direct them to the restaurant.
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GPS
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Economy Information
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Current Conditions
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Compass
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Currently Playing
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Radio Channel Selection Menu
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Message Alert Area
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Warning Alert Area and Inicators
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High-Fidelity Prototype The high-fidelity prototype allows you to simulate incoming calls and warning alerts. In addition, voice interaction with Siri has been mimicked to allow the user to experience the significance and potential power of voice activation. Prototype location: http://anthonyamoore.com/dataVisualization/projectA/protoHiFi/home.html
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Resources [1] Farrell, Maureen. What Apple’s Auto Ambitions Mean for Tesla. (Retrieved October 2015.) http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/04/22/what-apples-auto-ambitions-mean-for-tesla/ [2] Wakabayashi, D. Winkler, R. Apple’s Jeff Williams: ‘The Car is the Ultimate Mobile Device” (Retrieved October 2015.) http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/27/apples-jeff-williams-the-car-is-the-ultimate-mobile-device/ [3] MacRumors Staff. Apple Car – Apple’s Electri Vehicle Project (Retrieved October 2015.) http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/apple-car/ [4] Newman, Rick. (2015.) Cars are already undergoing 'massive change,' with no help from Apple (Retrieved October 2015.) http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cars-are-already-undergoing-%E2%80%9Cmassive-change%E2%80%9D-with-no-help-from-apple-181304663.html [5] Fritchard, Keven. Apple isn’t going to take over your dashboard, but it will make it a lot easier to get apps into your car. (Retrieved October 2015.) https://gigaom.com/2014/03/03/what-apple-carplay-means-for-automakers/ [6] Eve for Tesla. Apps for the Tesla Model S. (Retrieved October 2015.) http://teslaapps.net/en/ [7] Hesseldahl, Arik. (2014.) What’s inside the Tesla Model S Dashboard. (Retrieved October 2015.) http://recode.net/2014/10/14/whats-inside-the-tesla-model-s-dashboard/ [8] Cornet, Mohr, Weig, Zerlin & Hein. (2012.) Mobility of the Future. (Retrieved October 2015.) http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/automotive%20and%20assembly/ pdfs/mobility_of_the_future_brochure.ashx
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