Duration: Feb - May 2022
Team: Bing Liu, Mengzhe Ye, Yiwei Liu, Jiayuan Wang, Rong Jin
My Role: Lead Designer, conducted user interviews and competitor analysis, prioritized user flows and created wireframes and iterations
Recently, there is a growing trend of electric vehicle ownership and numbers indicate that more women are making the switch to driving EVs. According to the report, female buyers of the Taycan and Panamera four-door sports sedans have increased from 8% to 15% in the last two years. However, these female owners seldom use the car companion app. We also found out many female owners of luxury brand EV often claim that they don't feel safe when parking in the public area.
After extensive research into the challenges faced by car owners, we proceed our innovative solution with a new car campaign app. Specifically tailored to address safety concerns voiced by female car owners, this app offers intuitive features that make accessing information about the car's specifications effortless.
We looked into three leading EV car brands in the market aiming to study their car companion app and which feature they are provided. Tesla and BMW both have their strengths in their apps and we also studied Nio which are targeting Chinese EV market. As a team, we discovered the different features shared amongst three apps and explore potential opportunities and gaps in the market. After the competitor analysis, we identified three findings that we believe could inform our next stage of research direction.
Most car companion apps focus on improving trip planning functions and developing control functions but none of them concern the safety issues.
The connected app does not intergrade all functions like 360° Car Surround View Monitoring System or service maintaining, so users need to search other apps to use these functions.
Most of the vehicle-related information is too technical. Therefore it becomes very inconvenient for female car owners to understand their car conditions.
Based on primary and secondary research, I have gained a deeper understanding of the users' needs and motivations for using car companion apps. Through this process, I have identified a design opportunity for a new car companion app with a core focus on safety. As a group, we have synthesized our research findings into three key insights:
With our research findings and personas in mind, our team brainstormed some potential features to solve the challenges users face based on the four design principles.
Finally, we decided to focus on these four features.：
Reminder
System
Monitor
Mode
Car State
AI Customer
Service
Interactive Manual
The team worked together and created several iterations of the Lo-Fi versions of each feature. The first challenge is how might we integrated new features within the original app.
Based on the insights collected from the usability testing sessions, we went back to the prototypes and iterated the design solutions. Here are the selected screens of the Lo-Fi wireframes.
We narrowed down on potential ideas and started prototyping car companion app based on the flow identified in the service design blueprints. We created a mid-fidelity prototype and moved on to evaluate on that.
We selected four female car owners and conducted sessions at the University of Pennsylvania. Some users experienced frustration in these areas:
Based on the key findings we synthesized through usability testing, we iterated on the design and upgraded the prototype from mid-fidelity to high-fidelity.
Challenge 01
How to create a more readable the alert/monitor system?
The team firstly designed an entire control page for users to have better access to their cars. However, we found that most users want to only use the home screen to control and they usually don't need some functions like closing the sunroof. We then reduced the number of control buttons and highlighted the most important three functions. In addition, the original alert color was not obvious in the user testing, we then changed to dark red as the primary color of the alert system.
Challenge 02
How to enhance the monitor page with more real-time info?
During the user testing, most users stated they would like to see more detailed surrounding situations and the button configuration was intrusive when they were browsing through each screens.
Challenge 03
How to protect women's safety while they are on the road?
Instead of general map, we also added an "emergency contact" feature to allow users to send their current location to family members. In addition, the system will recommend the safest charging port location from the filter.
Challenge 04
How to help female users to know the car spec?
Without enough knowledge about technical details, we improved the car manual page by adding a 3D interactive configurator in the app. This page provides Porsche customers the access to build their dream sports car and all its technical details in three dimensions, they later can purchase several car parts in the shopping page.
Real-time Monitor
Safety features could be embedded in the monitor, such as real-time alerts if the car is driven outside a certain area or if the car's sensors detect a potential safety issue.
Reminder
The app can send alerts if the car's systems detect potential problems, like low tire pressure, engine troubles, or battery status. These warnings can help prevent accidents due to vehicle failure.
In-app Message to the Emergent Contact
In case of an accident or any detected anomaly, users can contact and notify their emergency contact
Home screen
Quick Control
Smart control of cars
