"It is my great pleasure to share that a project where I served as the primary author has received the Red Dot Award 2025. Additional information and relevant links will be announced in August 2025."
AUTOMOTIVE CONCEPT DESIGN
CAMPUS AUTONOMOUS SHUTTLE RIDE
A concept of the future map system for the L5 campus autonomous shuttle ride
of Illinois Institute of Technology
In the fourth industrial revolution, driverless cars have become one of the most emerging field. Within ten years, most travel needs will be fulfilled by autonomous vehicles and this has greatly changed our world and people. Robotics lab at Illinois Institute of Technology has conducted in-depth tests and research on the navigation functions of autonomous vehicles. The research project uses radar sensing technology to scan the surrounding environment in order to generate maps. This emerging technology provides the self-driving car industry with road testing on the main campus of IIT. Since the laboratory obtain the valuable research data of the campus. We decided to design a self-driving school shuttle for the IIT campus, and create a concept design for HMI system of this autonomous school shuttle.
ABOUT
Project Background:
The project uses the system data of IIT and the function of the autonomous driving school bus to carry out the conceptual design.
Data Source:
IIT Robotics Lab，IIT Alert System，BlackBoard, andGoogle calendar。
Challenge & Outcome:
How to design the functions of an autonomous shuttle in a specific campus setting? Especially when the average on-road time is less than 5 minutes, what are the real needs of users? What features can improve user experience? Through the process of user research, ideation, definition and visualization, we have designed a human-computer map interaction system suitable for autonomous school shuttle on campus.
My role：
I'm responsible for user research, UI & UX design of this project. I've designed concept of the interior screen of the car and user interface of the map system. During the project, I was working closely with an 3D motion designer. She is responsible for the motion design and 3D rendering of the shuttle bus, as well as animating the final UI concept.
PROCESS
In order to best carry out the innovative HMI concept that works perfectly with the radar mapping technology,
we divided the entire project into three phases:
01 Research & Discovery
In the research phase, user interviews and surveys help us understand the needs of student users. After learning about the radar-sensing road test conducted by IIT Robotics Lad, we have developed insights into the operation of the technology and obtained mapping data. The results of these investigations and explorations have brought us into the conception stage.
02 Ideation
We incorporate research results and test data to expand the scope of creativity as much as possible, collecting more information and generate ideas to explore more opportunities. At the same time, the 3D motion designer begins to model the interior appearance of the vehicles and the map. In the end, we select the ideas that best fit the theme and narrowed it down to four directions worthy of further discussion.
03 Definition & Visualization
In the final stage, we completed the HMI system, the interactive prototype, and vehicle display model. Through the definition and visualization process of the conceptual design, we produced an animated demo to express our concepts and ideas in an intuitive way.
01 RESEARCH
Robotic Lab conducted road tests on the main campus.
The purpose of this test is to understand the accuracy of radar mapping and collect environmental information in the campus.
After the test, we visualized the collected information. In the video below, we can clearly see that the radar can perceive pedestrians, vehicles, buildings and vegetation in the surrounding environment, and automatically generate different colors to label the information. Distinguish the perceived information.
Operative Area
Non operative area
Existed landmarks
Trajectory
In order to learn the real needs of users and their views on driverless school buses, we conducted the second round of surveys by means of questionnaire surveys and user interviews. The needs of student users are concentrated in the following three directions, including safety, in-car entertainment and personalized customization.
01 Safety
The main campus of IIT is located in the southern part of the city in Chicago. Dangerous incident such as shooting, robbery and other violent acts occurs in the area where the campus is located in an average of once per one to two weeks.
02 In-car Environment
During the route on the campus that's less than 7 minutes, users are more concerned about how to obtain information that's school related and relates to themselves in a limited time than the entertainment function in the car.
03 Personalized Customization
Users expect driverless school shuttle to be smarter than online car-hailing system and to understand their needs better.
02 IDEATION
According to the user needs obtained through our research, we divided the needs into four directions:
Safety and timeline information focus on how to establish the trust between users and self-driving school shuttles, customized services and in-car entertainment enhances the actual ride experience of users.
Timeline Informations
Users care about whether the vehicle can arrive at the destination on time and the trip planning provided by the system.
Safety
The main campus of IIT is a semi-open campus, and users care about their own car safety and potential environmental safety hazards.
In-car Environment
Users are concerned about the in-car entertainment functions that enhance their experience during short trips which should be different from other ride-hailing platforms.
Personalized Customization
As passengers, users hope to get more customized services and a more comfortable riding experience.
After analyzing the directions that can be expanded,
we use the storyboard to visualize the user experience flow.
03 VISUALIZATION
By analyzing data of user behavior and gestures, we have designed interactive screens and comfortable spaces in the car that can be used with one hand, and created a map and entertainment system for specific users.
Screen Size
The interactive screen inside the vehicle uses a 27-inch touch screen to bring users the best operating experience
Screen with bracket structure
The bracket structure is connected to the screen. It provides a multi-angle adjustment space for four directions including up, down, left, and right.
Users can adjust the screen to a comfortable angle to reduce the pressure on users's neck, eyes and back.
Multi-angle adjustment bracket structure
This structure can provide the user with a rotation space of 260 degrees left and right
This structure can also provide users with a position adjustment of 300 degrees up and down
INTERIOR DESIGN
Comfortable central armrests, large storage space and adjustable screen brackets provide users a comfortable riding experience.
The support structure of the brackets provides users with a multi-angle operation space.
The armrest in the middle of the seats can provide users with more storage space and reduce elbow support pressure.
The power/lock screen switch and volume control are located at the upper right off the screen, which is convenient for users to operate with one hand.
INFO ARCHITECTURE
Rearrange information levels based on information structure and function to optimize system design.
WIREFRAME
The next step is to visualize the information and complete an interactive low-fidelity prototype to test the system usability interaction logic
INTUITIVE OPERATION
Design principles: unified UI and intuitive operation
By establishing a standardized, modular and customizable UI, the interaction is more intuitive, so that users can get the same user experience on the car screen as using a smart phone.
RIDE WITH AUGMENTED REALITY
Based on GPS positioning and user data, information related to the user will be displayed intuitively on the screen, such as the books that need to be returned when passing by the library, and the lessons and meetings that the user needs to participate in when passing by the teaching building. We use 3D rendered maps to achieve the functionality of the augmented reality environment.
SHOW NEARBY BUILDING
The map will display the building information related to the user as the vehicle moves, such as teaching buildings, sports venues and libraries.
ADAPTIVE MAP UI
The map will automatically adjust to the appropriate location to display information according to the user's operation, and will not affect the display of the interface content.
ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM
In-car entertainment features include music, audio books and information display based on user personalization.
All displayed information is associated with the user’s campus account. For example, display the activities and news of IIT where the user is located, and remind the books that need to be returned when they are due. Users can also leave their own comments on the news details page, share the news with classmates or schedule a meeting online.
KNOW HOW FAR THE DANGER IS FROM ME
Due to the high crime rate in southern Chicago, IIT and the University of Chicago have an alarm system. When a dangerous event occurs in/around the campus, the system will notify students via text messages, phone calls and emails. We interconnect the alarm system with the map, allowing users to see the location, event and handling process when the danger.
Information from IIT Alert System
EMERGENCY HANDLING
The conflict of trust between humans and driverless cars has always been a problem to be solved. We hope that through our design, users can see how the system makes decisions and thinks. For example, when a danger occurs on a planned road, the interface will remind the user that he can choose to detour to ensure his own safety.
Navigation Integrity Test from IIT Robotics Lab
