Download - DRIVING, - rheannemccormick.com fileMe, racing at Snetterton Ever since I was a small child, I have been surrounded by cars. My family spent weekends at racetracks and evenings in

DRIVING,BY DES IGNA critical analysis of car enthusiasts, vehicle ownership and speculating Human-Machine Interfaces that support genuine driving experience

Rheanne McCormick

Old school car HMI

This project serves to bring together a collective of human perception and opinion of autonomous vehicles, with conceptual design ideas for Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) inside the autonomous car, and theoretical ideas regarding how the driver and car will interact, as we advance towards technology taking over the act of driving.

FOREWORD“The fact is I don't drive just to get from A to B. I enjoy feeling the car's reactions, becoming part of it.”ENZO FERRARI

Me, racing at Snetterton

Ever since I was a small child, I have been surrounded by cars. My family spent weekends at racetracks and evenings in the garage, and I watched as people tinkered and customised their cars to be their perfect fit. I was desperate to drive myself. I stacked shelves every day after college to save for driving lessons. Then I turned seventeen and finally got my drivers licence. Three days after passing, I was on the track. I grew to feel more at home on four wheels than two legs, utterly obsessed with the superhuman extension of abilities cars granted humans to experience.

IT’S PERSONALEver since I was a small child, I have been surrounded by cars. My family spent weekends at racetracks and evenings in the garage, and I watched as people tinkered and customised their cars to be their perfect fit. I was desperate to drive myself. I stacked shelves every day after college to save for driving lessons. Then I turned seventeen and finally got my drivers licence. Three days after passing, I was on the track. I grew to feel more at home on four wheels than two legs, utterly obsessed with the superhuman extension of abilities cars granted humans to experience.

IT’S PERSONAL

7_INTRODUCTION9_THE IDEA11_Q&A12_BEYOND TRANSPORT15_LOVING CARS17_THE DAILY CONCEPT19_HUMANIZED CARS21_DRIVING INTO THE FUTURE

AN INTRO

…I am frustrated by the developments I see in the industry of autonomous vehicles, with so much focus on A to B transport of people, but little investment made into building the cars of the future for the masses of people who live for the drive and enjoy the ownership of a personal car. Pioneering AV manufacturers such as Tesla, Waymo and Uber are implementing the high-tech cars the easiest way they can - as cold objects used simply as tools to complete a task. Automakers are neglecting the real opportunities modern technology can bring to the driving cockpit – beyond gimmicky features such as updating your Facebook status or setting a new destination on the GPS map via voice control, or even ordering your next Amazon delivery. This project is focused on how we can better design for driving, as an experience to enjoy, not a labour to distract from.

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A car show in Nevada, US

THE IDEAWith my experience around cars and after many years of talking to and watching other people whose lives revolved around them, I have formed assumptions about how these people felt about their cars and what was important to them. I believed that many true ‘Petrol heads’ would be disappointed with the interactions in the self-driving cars of the future, and I started to think about what their current cars have which have won their hearts so completely. If these qualities could be refined and transplanted into future design, HMI could be more effective in earning trust of drivers, and even loved.

I decided to confirm my assumptions about people who love to drive and what they need in this research project. I believe the reason the technology is not fulfilling its true potential within its place in the car is because manufacturers are playing their designs too safe and comfortable, and if they researched this extremely experience audience instead, there would be some huge design revolutions.


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Danielle, from The Modified girls

Q&AI began by talking to those people whose lives revolve around cars - the self-professed petrol heads. I chose a selection of drivers from different groups in my local area: the Modified Girls, the East Coast Retros, and the ‘Local Collective’ (the city car meet crowd.) This selection across three distinctly different groups gave me access to a great diversity in lifestyles and car-driver partnerships. After collecting the participant responses, the results were collated and analysed for correlations. Prior to conducting the study, my hypothesis was that there would be harsh differences between the three groups of drivers. However, on review of the collected information, it became clear that there were uniform trends across all three of the groups.


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BEYOND TRANSPORTDriving is an experience, not just a transport method. People dislike the idea of full autonomy, and say they would miss physically driving their cars manually. There has long been an acceptance of some computer aided driver assists, such as cruise control or electric handbrake's, even automatic transmissions, yet not of full autonomy. To build a working relationship between humans and cars, the technology will need to earn our trust. Trust is created through transparency; consequently the initial stages of development into co-pilot HMI will need to be focused on building this transparency into the technology, to enable the driver or passenger in the car to see what the system is deciding to do, and why. This is an important first step, as without invested trust in the systems abilities to keep the driver safe, people may fear them.


“I enjoy meeting people like me, who are interested in cars and having fun with them… there’s more to it than just driving somewhere, it’s about the community. Everyone has this shared thing that’s ours, there’s no wrong way to do it – we just do it out of love really.”

- ZAC“


Progressing from the idea of cars as an extension to the human body, respondents also spoke about their cars like people, using names and concepts of gender. All attendees surveyed said that they named at least one of their cars, and these names were gendered in association with the sex they believed their car was closer to. This finding supports Katz theory of humanized cars and automobilized people, as discussed in ‘Automotive Emotions.’ Humans are quick to personify their cars and express genuine human emotion for them. However, this relationship is solidified in a foundation of trust which if broken, by the car ‘letting down’ the owner, could lead to them effectively ending the relationship and getting rid of the car. This was proven when participant Pajak, said

“I love my car and I could never imagine selling it… until it p*sses me off.” - PAJAK

This finding supports the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ model theorised by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Maslow’s theory is that there are layers to what we need as humans, to be happy. The first tier is what we need to survive, such as food, water, shelter and clothing. The second tier builds upon our vital needs, requiring health, family and social stability. The third tier, is friendship, intimacy and a sense of connection. Once physiological and safety needs are met by the car, by the driver trusting it to keep them safe and alive, the relationship can begin to progress beyond the foundational basic needs, to the growth tiers. This is where the

Human-Machine connection begins to build. Once the human can trust the machine, the layers on which to build a deeper affinity can be built on top. This also means that without the stable foundation of Maslow’s initial tiers, the relationship will never reach above more than just satisfying the needs of the user.

This should be carefully considered when autonomous vehicle designers are working on how to develop trust and emotional connection between the human drivers and their machines. This trust is a much-publicised issue in the media regarding autonomous vehicles, due to the technology being so unfamiliar that the general public doesn’t understand it, therefore perceives it to be dangerous. This is due to fear of the unknown. If designers can utilise this knowledge to build a stable platform of trust between the human and machine, designers could algorithmically construct this high level of emotional relationship in production cars.

Driving is more than A to B

LOVING CARSThe participants of the study reported across the board that they ‘loved’ their cars. This response of feelings of love spanned all three of the different groups, so I proceeded to investigate deeper the reasons behind what specifically evokes these strong emotions. One participant, Zac from the Local Collective group, said that he had modified his Audi TT to be so specifically suited to his needs with custom parts, aesthetics and functions, that he believed no one besides himself could drive it. He had spent vast amounts of time and energy creating his perfect mechanical counterpart, and it responded only to him. These feelings of power and exclusivity could be what causes custom car owners to feel so strongly for their cars. The car allows the drivers to feel special and important. This principle could be utilised further in digital design, where refinement of aesthetics and function is much easier to affect by the user. This is one key point which highlights just how modern car HMI design is failing to recognise it’s unique opportunities and fully take advantage of the immensely flexible medium.


"I love my car because I've built it for me and no one else.”

- PAJAK

“I love my car more and more everyday as I am beginning to modify it to my tastes.”- AISLING

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Low Collective car show, UK

THE DAILY CONCEPTWhile talking to the car enthusiasts, it became apparent that many of them had multiple cars. For most it was two cars, a few people had three or more if they were part of a bigger family with multiple drivers. Of the individuals who had two cars, they spoke strongly about one more than the other. This was because they were using one car as a daily method of transportation only, to get to and from their place of work, and for mundane tasks. The other car was reserved for driving pleasure only. This splitting up of activities between two cars shows a clear love of driving for the activity, and transport as a separate matter. This concept clearly highlights that driving and transport are two very separate functions of a car, and both are so important that those who can will buy and run two completely different vehicles better suited to function. This is a principle rarely addressed in car HMI beyond ‘sports’ modes, aimed at track driving.


"I love being able to get into my car and just have fun, bang some gears and go fast. It puts the biggest smile on my face driving my car.”

- DANIELLE

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__J

HUMANIZEDCARSThe application of personalities to cars, that reflect the driver themselves and incorporate the cars brand identity, was found to be a key theme throughout the interviews. This is interesting because it is obviously illogical and impossible for the car to have any similarities to drivers yet they often choose to believe that this is true, possibly to feel more connected to the car. Many made statements that no one other than themselves would be able to drive their car, while referring to them by gender, implying that they have the car set up in such a way that is tailored specifically to them and their preferences. This notion of being ‘just for them’ and unable to be driven by others could be something they need to confirm to themselves, to feel as if they are talented for being skilled enough to drive their car, or perhaps it is by customisation of the cars working design that he is in fact the only person who really knows how. The idea that his car has an opinion on how it is driven, and could even ‘shut down’ when dissatisfied is a novel thought, however it is a concept for future HMI designs which could evoke feelings of human connection in drivers, creating a more personal experience.

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“Driving began a metaphysical merger, an intertwining of the identities of the driver and car that generates a distinctive ontology in the form of a person-thing, a humanized car, or alternatively, an automobilized person.”

- SHELLER, M. 2001, AUTOMOBILIZED EMOTIONS

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Knight Industries Two Thousand


Following on from the previous finding of driver assigned personalities to their cars, it was discovered that drivers were projecting associated characteristics of their cars brand onto their individual cars as part of that ‘personality.’ For example, Aisling from the Modified Girls group specifically referred to her Volkswagen car as reflecting the company's branding, but it was in hope of how she would like the future designed personality of a Volkswagen car to behave. "I would also like to think if it did have a personality it would match the branding of VW because they're just fun.” Also, Danielle defended her old Honda Accord against the alleged insults it receives where she lives, possibly due to being so close to the car because it is an extension of her, and these insults also target her as the individual who made the decision to buy a Honda, and to like the car. She states that her car would have a ‘feisty and sassy’ personality, and based on the information she gave regarding insults to her personal car, this could be her way of defending the car if it had the ability to feel. The idea that a car is programmed to have thoughts, feelings and emotions, to better connect and interact with humans, is a current topic in development solution to the issues regarding trust and fear in autonomous vehicles, but the concept of programming ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is related more to ethical issues regarding safety of autonomous driving and accident blame when things go wrong. Focusing on creating these digital emotion engines for the right reasons, rather than as a way to offload accident blame, may have a more positive outcome.

“I think my golf would be a dark horse kind of personality… I tend to drive her nicely and smooth but when I want to put the foot down it responds with force... especially with the traction control off."

- CALVER

“DRIVINGINTO


/*THE FUTURE

technologies and capabilities that will need to be catered for. Following this initial frontier, dependent on technologies success with winning the love and trust of users, humans are predicted to gain trust more rapidly with autonomous vehicles as they become commonplace and accepted within society.

Design studio Artefact produced a set of three phases, which they believe outlines how the industry will develop vehicle technology over the next 30 years. The initial stage, which spans the next decade, Artefact predicts will see the automotive industry, collectively from both technology companies and OEM’s, developing HMI design concepts which develop trust between their cars and human drivers. After this trust has been developed and tested, there will be a period where more semiautonomous vehicles are on the roads than ever before, but they will be amongst both fully autonomous vehicles, and older manual cars that will remain on the roads. This will be the most difficult time to design for, due to the broad range of


A proposed solution to this relationship problem between cars and people is a ‘co-pilot’ system. The experiences of driving a car should be collaborative between humanity and technology. Semi-autonomous vehicles, “characterized by varying degrees of autonomous capabilities, will retain manual controls and may require an engaged human driver to monitor the system and assume control under conditions when the car can’t drive itself.” (Rousseau, J. 2016) This would allow the human ‘driver’ to monitor the technology, functioning as a semi-autonomous vehicle, as to avoid any potential problems, but it would also give the human the opportunity to take back control and drive again when they so wished. One of the biggest design problems with semi-autonomous vehicles is that they will need to accommodate many points of hand off, in moments when the vehicle cannot continue operating autonomously and control must be handed back to the human driver again, effectively co-piloting the car.

New affordances will begin to appear as the physical and the digital begin to blend together in much the same way as the automotive OEM’S and the technology companies come together to create the new driving experience. The existing physicality of the dashboard and interface elements that have existed for years inside the car, that stayed because they were able to be used effectively while the driver was busy looking at the road, are beginning their progressive digital switchover to improve functionality. This blend of technology and humanity, new and old, coming together seamlessly with crafted interaction design is what will transform the automotive industry. Renowned designer Donald Norman addresses how technology will transform cars in his book “the design of everyday things”. (Norman, D. 2013) Norman believes cars can be improved

considerably by making individual parts and processes of the car ‘better’. He uses the example of the automatic transmission, removing the need for three manual foot pedals, and Head Up Displays (HUD’s) presenting important information closer to the eye line of the driver, to avoid the need to divert attention from the road. He asks “how can we make things better? By careful study of the activities that go on during driving. Support the activities while being sensitive to human capabilities, and people will accept the design and learn whatever is necessary.” (Norman, D. 2013) The solution to the problematic differences between the algorithmic knowledge of technology focused companies such as Google and Uber, and the legacy car manufacturing industry knowledge held by OEM’s such as BMW and Ferrari, could be to work collaboratively to build a balanced solution; a car enhanced by technology to provide support to the human driver. This is the stepping stone between driver assistance in the form of advanced driver assistance, and full autonomy.


information processing and environment monitoring, coming together in the car to fully experience the thrill of the drive, while ensuring safety and dramatically reducing accidents due to poor human judgment. To drive is a raw human experience. To be human is to enjoy simple pleasures, to do things out of pure joy, to live, to experience - not just survive.

By designing with these complicated emotions in mind, and acknowledging what it is that makes us uniquely human, we can create cars that people will trust, and maybe even love.

For this new wave of highly advanced technology to be accepted and successfully integrated into our everyday lives, new investments are needed in the ‘soft side’ of high tech to address consumer concerns. The continued divergence between how consumers report learning (or not learning) how to use advanced technologies and their stated interest in learning options provides an excellent starting point for manufacturers, dealers and other stakeholders to begin addressing some of these concerns. This ‘soft side’ of technology will emerge when automotive manufacturers begin to pay closer attention to the humans who purchase and use their vehicles, and what their individual needs are as people, not just as cargo who need to physically travel distance. Similar to how a taxi driver performs a service between people and their need for transport while also providing a level of care and attention to the passenger, the technology inside the future autonomous car will need to do the same.

Concluding my investigation, I believe I have refined my research into three most valuable findings. The first is the importance of trust, how to build it and the nature of the driver-car relationship. The second is specificity, total customisation to driver and scenario. And the third is the concept of co-pilot systems as the best form of HMI for future cars. Human desire for emotion fuelled action meets technologies capabilities for

The thrill of the drive 1 5D R I V I N G B Y D E S I G N

/*Cars are not just algorithms based on road width and sensor data. They are an amplification of our own physical bodies, aiding us in defying our human limitations and in return we give them a human generated randomness, an emotional engine sitting behind the wheel, directing the logical machine over the earth.

There is more to this technological race than numbers. To purely focus on efficiency, statistics and charts is to foolishly deny the human appreciation of art. For cars are an art form you experience with your whole being, man and machine moving as one.

It’s more than transport. It’s the sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself. It’s the community, it’s making friends with total strangers at petrol stations, and it’s the smile that spreads across your face passing other enthusiasts on the road. It’s feeling unique; a car made for just you and your style, a true mechanical extension of biological self.

“It’s” driving, by design.

CARS.

D R I V I N G B Y D E S I G N

Research and conceptual design by Rheanne McCormick

Download - DRIVING, - rheannemccormick.com fileMe, racing at Snetterton Ever since I was a small child, I have been surrounded by cars. My family spent weekends at racetracks and evenings in

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