Development of a Show Car for Level 5 Autonomous Driving

A show car, which started with the HMI, was developed, and implemented based on personas, use cases, and scenarios. A user-centric design process allowed for the implementation of completely new concepts and the inspiration for series development.

Client:

Vehicle manufacturer from Japan

Initial situation

A show car should be planned, developed, and built to make future user experiences tangible. The focus was the presentation of the user experience for fully autonomous driving. There was a need for external input from the client to inspire internal development and thus take it to a new level.

Goal

The development and construction of a show car is targeted to focus the client’s decision-making process, inspire innovation, and thus secure the car manufacturer’s market position in the long term. The changes in mobility and user experience that result from the development of fully autonomous vehicles should be made feelable. The individual use cases, emotions and experiences of the users were the focus in thinking and acting. The implementation required a user-centric design process, mainly to show the strengths of this process.

Actions

In the beginning, personas, scenarios, and use cases for the mobility of the future were developed. Based on these, the vehicle concept was developed from the inside out with a strong focus on user experience. The HMI was at the core of thinking and acting. The interior of the vehicle was developed based on this. The vehicle exterior was a result of the interior development. A design studio and a model builder were selected and managed during the project.

Delivery

A functional show car with HMI demonstrator and videos that show the mobility and user emotions of tomorrow. Various reports with analyses, personas, scenarios, use cases, and a presentation of next steps of the vehicle development.

Result

The thinking, decisions, and actions of the client were significantly influenced by the show car. Innovations for production vehicles were derived and the way of thinking and acting was significantly changed. The result was a clear vision of future mobility that sets the course today for a successful tomorrow.