#dxb403

Designing a sound based interaction to engage users in an semi or fully autonomous vehicle; viable for implementation in the next five years.

DXB 403 Design for Interactive Media

Workbook displaying design process and progress for assessment one.

a. Sit in one location in or around a vehicle and identify all the different sounds that can be heard. Describe these sounds using words, then illustrate the sounds using line and colour.

b. What sounds were most interesting? Why?

Engine/power train warning alarm - happy, uplifting musical tune just after the car starts, signalling a fault in the power train. Upbeat tune contrasts warning message.

Air con dial - nice solid click with each step but still has a smooth sounds when rotating, similarly the window winder button has a smooth sound when pressed/pulled and satisfying click when ‘auto-wind’ is engaged after a full press/pull.

Hands sliding on steering wheel - smooth, controlled sound, establishing trust with the driver

a. Document and reflect upon feedback from peers and tutor.

Initial Concepts

Creating a soundtrack for the user

collaborative for passengers

personalised for the user

Increase safety and well-being

Pleasurable driving experience

Amplify exterior sounds

Transform the driving/commuting experience to a pleasurable moment/experience

Firstly, feedback was given on how to sketch interaction with sound and sound-based interfacing. From the tutorial, a simple method is sketching the visual elements and describing the sounds with words or visualising the sound with colours, shape or metaphors. This is further researched during the literature review.

Secondly, feedback around the initial concept was given.

The initial concept consisted of developing a personalised soundscape within the car to transform the driving experience using sound. For example, if the driver enjoys or imagines driving a sports car through winding hills, engine sounds and natural ambience can be generated to simulate that experience. This design tackles the disengagement that is reportedly a main concern in the development of semi and fully autonomous vehicles.

b. Refine the design ideas and ask for feedback. Reflect upon and record feedback.

Feedback including looking at how the design might change for different levels of autonomy and considering how features or the system can be designed to roll out or adapt over time as technology changes.

From the feedback, the design for different levels of autonomy will be considered as well as designing features that can be enabled or disabled depending on whether the car or the driver is in control.

Observe and record your own and others’ expected, possible and unexpected acts in and around a vehicle. Describes sounds that could be given to these acts.

Some of these acts are intrinsically sound based, such as listening to radio or singing, where as others create sound inherently from their function or design; such as indicating or accelerating.

Other sounds are specifically designed to increase the quality of the driving experience for the user and portray a sense of quality or ruggedness for example. From alarms to horns to door closure, most aspects of a vehicle are designed to sound a certain way.

Acts such as steering can be described with abstract sounds that relate to the act, like a rolling, moving sound. Accelerating and braking with sounds that rise and fall in pitch or frequency as the car or engine increases or decreases in speed.

Other acts like indicating and sounding the horn already have sounds attached and do not require a metaphor or relation as the material creates its own sound although these sounds can be altered when designing the material form.

Observing and scanning in terms of the autonomous system could be conveyed with a sweeping sound and alert tones if something is detected by the vehicle.

a. Reflect upon relevant literature relating to the design idea.

Link to literature review

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0n7wptsv7p3e6q/n9169059_LiteratureReview.pdf?dl=0

https://youtu.be/0DS9PY6iaxE

https://youtu.be/oQqT8TSOKrE

https://youtu.be/zfkDXQ4pS2k

https://youtu.be/tiwVMrTLUWg

https://youtu.be/nY2wB_PCEm8

https://youtu.be/tqZcSPXPhcc

https://youtu.be/BCPmAK8SmEc

https://youtu.be/pFBhUL5En9M

https://youtu.be/NgDMbJN4GNo

https://youtu.be/xYqtu39d3CU

b. Find, reflect upon and critically analyse other professional projects that relate to the design idea.

https://au.pinterest.com/zac096/dxb-403-design-for-interactive-media/

Note: some of the following images are gifs, illustrating features that could be usefull or inspiring to the final design.

1. BMW Vision Concept Self Driving Car

Interior adapts to communicate autonomous or manual controls to the driver.

Detecting hazards and communicating with other users. The waving green light is a metaphor or simulation of the driving waving the pedestrian on with there hands or eyes.

https://youtu.be/0DS9PY6iaxE

The BMW Vision Concept is a level three autonomous vehicle with the ability to be controlled manually or by the autonomous system and transform the interior features to match the driving mode and clearly communicate with the ‘driver’. It is also able to detect and monitor the outside environment as well as intuitively communicate with other users.

2. UXstudio Fully Autonomous Cars

https://www.behance.net/gallery/35398241/The-UX-of-Fully-Autonomous-Cars

UXstudio’s design for an autonomous vehicle focuses on voice interactions and places all of the information and visual feedback on a central screen in the dash. The user can communicate with the car and also engage different modes while the car is in control to enhance the experience of being in the car with different medias.

3. Chrysler Portal Concept

The Chrysler future vehicle concept features a high level dash to display main information visually to the driver without to divert their vision from the road. The controls are also mainly found in a central screen on the dash.

The main inspiration taken from this vehicle is how to communicates with the outside environment through the use of sound and light. As well as how the interior adapts between driving modes and can be personalised to suit the passengers. It also features media than can be displayed to all passengers and the driver when in autonomous mode.

https://youtu.be/3aAMAmMtW50

4. Audi A6 User Experience

The UX design of the Audi A6 concept also features a centralised screen in addition to tactile controls like buttons an dials. The main feature reviewed for this projects design was the ability to control the media seamlessly from the steering wheel. This feature could be useful when designing features for manual control mode.

The gestures could also be transferred into the context of autonomous mode or related to a sound in a sound-based engagement.

https://youtu.be/1Y5UBF7V_X4

a. Re-design the idea as if it was only designed for sound, sight, touch, taste, motion or smell. Illustrating each re-design with a description.

1. Sight

Using smart glass, overlay images of the user’s preferred driving environment onto the windows of the car, encapsulating them in a more pleasurable environment when in autonomous mode. Information from the car may still be relayed through a display.

2. Touch

Using tactile touch points around the vehicle that evoke the feeling of being in the user’s favourite place, personalised specifically for each individual user with multiple touch points around the vehicle.

3. Motion

Integrate control by gestures, allowing the user to move around the cabin, designing their own space and intuitively controlling the vehicle or media within the vehicle and adapting the interior space to suit their needs.

4. Taste

When in autonomous mode, allow the user to be immersed with the sounds and smell of their favourite restaurant, kitchen or place to eat. Mainly suitable to higher levels of autonomy in the future.

5. Smell

Possibly integrating with taste, this design could relay different smells to the user to emulate a different environment, for example the user may have memories of picking fruit as a child and may be engaged with the smell of fresh fruit to enhance the driving experience.

b. Reflect upon how these multi-sensory iterations may or may not enhance the final design outcome.

Illustrate and describe the final design idea, demonstrating how a user may interact with the concept over time.

ALTDRiVE - Transform your driving experience.

ALTDRiVE has been developed in response to the brief of designing interactive media that engages people through sound-based experiences within a semi or fully autonomous vehicle. From research it was found that to fit within the five year scope of the project it was best designed to be integrated within a level two or three automated vehicle system.

For ALTDRiVE, it was’t just about designing for the driver. The ALTDRiVE system is designed to not only engage drivers and passengers through a sound based-experience but also communicate with the environment and people within the space outside and around the vehicle.

The main two functions of ALTDRiVE are the interior soundscape and exterior communication. 

Firstly, using multiple speakers around the cabin and the combination of ambience and sound effects while the autonomous system is in control. This allows the user to become immersed in the driving experience as the vehicle simulates the user’s ideal driving environment or recreate any other space, personalised to the user’s profile. This allows the user to maintain awareness and be ready to take control of the vehicle when needed and not become bored during a monotonous commute.

Secondly, ALTDRiVE enhances communication and engagement with other road users. As self-driving cars increase in popularity, it is suggested that the road space will be shared more and more with pedestrians. In combination with advancement in electronic cars which offer little audio feedback this system enhances the safety in a shared environment by emitting sound based on selection made by the driver. These sounds can be based on the mood of the driver or selected from a library of artificial engine noises.