My Role
Main Designer
Group Project
Group of two
Practices
UX Design,
Augmented Reality,
Game Design,
Tools
Figma
Adobe Aero
Date
September 2021
The Task
Present a future public transport scenario enhanced with advanced and immersive technologies.
Proposed Concept
> An entertainment platform
> In augmented reality
> For autonomous car passengers
The Problem
According to a study, Fatigue is expected to set in more quickly in autonomous cars compared to conventional driving due to reduced engagement.
Drivers in the automated driving condition exhibited facial indicators of fatigue after 15 to 35 min of driving. Manual drivers only showed similar indicators of fatigue if they suffered from a lack of sleep and then only after a longer period of driving.
The Possibility
In recent Proposed Changes to the Highway Code by the Department of Transport; People using self-driving cars will be allowed to watch television on built-in screens under proposed updates to the Highway Code. It states:
“If the vehicle is designed to require you to resume driving after being prompted to, while the vehicle is driving itself, you MUST remain in a position to be able to take control. For example, you should not move out of the driving seat. You should not be so distracted that you cannot take back control when prompted by the vehicle.”
This permits us to design an entertainment platform for the drivers of self-driving cars.
Automation Levels
Automation levels are standardized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standardization.
\> Level 0: No Driving Automation
> Level 1: Driver Assistance
> Level 2: Partial Driving Automation
> Level 3: Conditional Driving Automation
> Level 4: High Driving Automation
> Level 5: Full Driving Automation
In level 3, the system assumes environmental monitoring and control. If the system encounters uncertainties (e.g., missing road markings, foggy weather, system failure), it issues a takeover request (ToR) to a fallback system, which in this case is the human driver.
In level 4, the system assumes control and issues a ToR as in level 3 with the difference that, in case the fallback driver is unresponsive, the system can assume control.
Why AR
According to a study and Department of Transport, For levels four and five of automated driving, the driver (user of automated driving systems) would be free to engage with secondary tasks (non-driving related tasks) during transit with a caveat that he/she is monitoring the road.
And it is suggested that controllable distraction through non-driving tasks could be necessary to ensure alertness and availability during highly automated driving.
A connected augmented reality experience for the driver would provide entertainment to reduce fatigue and keeps the driver aware of their surrounding.
Industry Trends
Panasonic Automotive unveils their Augmented Reality HUD (AR HUD) 2.0, the first to include a new patented eye tracking system (ETS) enhancing the AR experience
JAGUAR LAND ROVER DEVELOPS IMMERSIVE 3D IN-CAR EXPERIENCE WITH HEAD-UP DISPLAY RESEARCH | JLR Media Newsroom, 2019
Volvo Cars and Varjo have made it possible to drive a real car while wearing a mixed reality headset, seamlessly adding virtual elements that seem real. (Case Volvo & Varjo: World’s First Mixed & Virtual Reality Test Drive, 2022)
Apple has been granted a patent for an advanced AR/VR Headset System specifically designed for those travelling in Autonomous Vehicles (Immersive display of motion-synchronized virtual content, 2022)
Tesla introduced Atari games to be played on the centre screen in October 2018 as an easter egg, Setting a trend that has continued ever since, With more games being added In one of the most recent updates (October 2021), Tesla allows drivers to play video games in moving cars. (Tesla)
Why ShootAR?
For this project, an endless shooter game was chosen as a subject. Due to two main reasons;
Such games don’t necessarily require high graphical detail, which makes them more suitable for outdoor use of augmented reality Head-mounted devices.
Here we see a game in this category developed for a primitive CRT display in the early 60s
(Spacewar! is a space combat video game developed in 1962)
Spacewar! is a space combat video game developed in 1962
Input for gameplay can be relatively simple and achievable in the environment.
(Space Invaders, a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado)
The platform
Ideally, If a good portion of windscreen could be used as a HUD, the information and content could be projected unto the drivers field of view without the need for a head mounted extended reality device
But considering the current hardware standards a head-mounted device was chosen as a platform.
The Future
Two assumptions about the future has been made:
Level 4 of Autonomous driving has been achieved
There is reliable communication between the Vehicle’s DAS system and entertainment platform
Personas
Scenarios
High-level Architecture
Storyboard
Gameplay Concept
Gameplay Concept
Evaluation
The objective of the usability study was to test the initial concept and usability of both the game and the in car system design. The evaluation was conducted in two parts. A test of the car display interface and the game design.
As we did not have access to the HoloLens 2, the test was a conceptual test, carried out on two iPads.One device displayed the prototype for the in-car display using Figma and the second device was used to carry out the gameplay using a prototype I developed Adobe Aero.
Participants
Think-aloud protocol
We used a think aloud protocol so we could observe participants and gain quantitative and qualitative data
To understand if the users could navigate to important information from the prototype home screen
Evaluate the proposed game interactions.
To gain overall feedback on our proposed solution.
