Somewhere in the world in the next decade or so, someone will cross the street unexpectedly in front of a self-driving vehicle. What will happen? How will the car stop before colliding with the pedestrian? And who will be stopping it? This scenario illustrates the tricky challenge of public safety as the future drives forward and autonomous cars are moving from science fiction fantasy to reality. DFA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) collaborated on a National Project for the fifth year in a row, this time to take on the challenge of safety as society transitions to self-driving cars.
“The reason we pick topics like self-driving is because it’s one of the big picture problems that your generation is going to have to solve,” Curt Edgar, FCA’s Head of Product Optimization, discussed with the DFA students participating in this FCA project. Cars and driving have shaped our cities, our mobility, and often our identities. FCA and this year’s DFA teams sought to understand how we will navigate a world in which machines learn to make decisions for themselves. And “at what point as a human is the decision right or wrong? Just think about that,” challenged Phil Janis, Head of NAFTA Product Development. Think about it they did!
Student teams from Michigan State University, Notre Dame, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rice University, and the University of Illinois approached the challenge of how to ensure safety in transition to self-driving vehicles by working in their local community and leveraging the DFA network of students, DFA National, and FCA coaches. Experts in Human-Machine Interface and Ergonomics, Supply-Chain Management, and Design and Release Engineering teamed directly with students by immersing themselves in various stakeholders’ pain points surrounding self-driving cars. Months of intensive research and design in Fall 2017 culminated at the FCA Headquarters in Auburn Hills, MI during a two-day expo February 1-2.
University of Illinois team presenting their solution, LookUp!, to FCA employees.
Rice University presented Crosstalk, a communication system that tells non-drivers at intersections the intentions of a self-driving car so they feel safe to cross the street. Their design is a lighted display that wraps around the roofline of a car. Using familiar symbols, like the walking person we are used to seeing at crosswalks, their design addresses the fact that pedestrians and cyclists can’t rely on eye contact with drivers as there is not a human driver in autonomous vehicles to whom you can signal intention. DFA faculty founder, Liz Gerber, “was thrilled that Rice took the perspective of those who may not be mainstream adopters of autonomous vehicles and want to improve safety and respect on city streets.” Rice’s design starts “informing FCA of this human-centered perspective and increases the likelihood that this solution may be implemented.”
Rice University’s prototype of alights the FCA atrium for employees to test and discuss with students.
The University of Illinois looked inward to the car’s interior, focusing on handing back control to the driver in situations preceding accidents. The team approached autonomous driving as distracted driving, using the observation that as phones and cars continue evolving with society, drivers in autonomous vehicles will have a lot more time to use their devices during traditional drive time. The team created a steering wheel designed to allow for tactile interaction with their devices, to help keep the driver’s gaze closer to the road and their hands on the wheel. This proximity to the wheel reduced the driver’s reaction time to emergencies by 0.3 seconds which can mean all the difference between serious injuries and public safety.
UIUC team members simulating LookUp! to an FCA employee.
Autonomy will transform all vehicle varieties and will soon be affecting public transportation and other waypoint vehicles, like delivery trucks. A bus driver’s role will change from primarily safety and navigation to greeting and assisting passengers. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Right Hand Man uses coordinates from surrounding fleet vehicles and an alarm system to notify bus drivers of potential hazards, thereby enabling drivers to focus on customer service while still being vigilant when they need to take control of the wheel.
RPI team brought their prototype of Right Hand Man, as well as key insights from the design process on display to FCA employees.
Self-driving technology has already left the labs for the roads, and many studies have found that, by far, most accidents happen when human drivers rear-end autonomous vehicles. This research led to Michigan State University’s argument that “autonomous vehicles are almost too safe,” says MSU team lead, Jake Arens. The team developed a lighting system called Hindsight to attach to the rear of autonomous vehicles, using the standard “hazard lights” symbol and changing colors to signal to surrounding drivers that they are proximate to an autonomous vehicle. An example scenario would be that a trailing car is following too closely and may get into an accident; Hindsight lights up red for the rear driver to warn of a sudden stop. “It’s like a student driver sign for autonomous vehicles,” says Phil Jansen. The team agreed and even used student driver signs as a proxy for their research.
MSU team members explained and tested the prototype for Hindsight in the FCA Atrium.
The Notre Dame team encountered a challenge familiar to car manufacturers: ensuring both safety and passenger enjoyment. They designed an experience to help passengers customize the amount of information a vehicle would give them, from its lights (Luna) to its sounds (Fiona) to its tactile responses (Senz) and ultimately created an artificially intelligent persona that fits the driver’s needs. Their prototype stimulated discussion about a brand’s role in making people comfortable with emerging technology – rather than needing each car to be everything for everybody. FCA’s vast array of brands makes them a perfect partner in helping future drivers confidently transition into an autonomous vehicle.
Notre Dame set up a simulation in a Chrysler Compass mini-van for employees to experience Fiona, Senz, and Luna capabilities.
In addition to presenting their semester’s work to FCA mentors and employees, students got to peer into the day in a life of an FCA designer and the company’s full-scale design process where they tackle challenges like “designing a button that can move in twenty-two ways” in the human-machine interface lab, to “getting as much information out of every car you can” in the real-time strategy lab.
The student’s stay in Detroit was rounded out with a visit to Civilla, a local human-centered design studio dedicated to changework “where people tackle work that feels bigger than themselves and where they find the ability to do that work alongside others.” True to their strict “no powerpoint policy,” they guided the group through an interactive journey of their first project, Re: Form, to redesign the State of Michigan’s application for public benefits and conclude with a reflective activity on the teams’ own journeys through Detroit’s various communities. One student shared in their personal reflection that their time in Detroit “has reinforced my desire to challenge my current design education and use those design principles in actually meaningful ways.”
DFA students took a tour of Civilla’s “Closet,” a display gallery of their work with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Design for America is incredibly grateful for this on-going and deeply stimulating partnership with FCA and we appreciate their continued support of design learning and innovation. When Curt Edgar started this DFA partnership five years ago, they “began with a little kernel of an idea and it’s really grown into something special.” We can hardly wait to see what else these DFA students will do to change their worlds for the better. Read more about this National Project on FCA’s blog!
The whole FCA mentor team and DFA students proudly stand next to their designs for public safety in transition to self-driving.
Each year, Design for America unites with partnering companies in an effort to address real issues the companies are facing by bringing fresh perspectives and user insights to address the topics important to these corporate partners. Find out more about a partnership with DFA here.
