Purdue University CGT Department Capstone
Client: Purdue Transportation Services
Timeline: Jan 2022 - May 2022
My Role
UX/UI Designer & Project Manager
My Team: 2 UX/UI Design, 3 Data Visualization Senior Students
*This was a solely student-led project with no interference of a professor in terms of the project execution.
Personal Skills: User Research, Interviews, Research Synthesis, Accessible Design, Wireframes, Mid & High-fidelity Prototypes, Usability Tests
Tools: Whimsical, Figma, TinkerCAD, Miro
Overview
Elevate X: Imagining the Future of Campus Transportation for Disabled Students
With emerging technology affecting our daily lives more than ever, the methods of transportation are facing the growth within the industry as well. The team strived to empower the underrepresented community of disabled individuals to enhance the accessibility and inclusivity of Purdue’s campus, starting with imagining a better way to navigate through campus for disabled students.
The Context
What is Elevate X?
ElevateX is a speculative autonomous vehicle (AV) service that aims to help disabled students/individuals to navigate effectively and efficiently through Purdue University’s campus.
Through a multi-channel service of a physical vehicle and a mobile app, users would be able to utilize this service like any other book-a-ride service with ease.
Design an autonomous vehicle (AV) or transportation service to assist disabled individuals in coping with the frustrations that they may face while getting to places around Purdue’s campus.
Who are our users?
Our Target Audience
Students/individuals on Purdue’s campus who feel discomfort in physical mobility who need an intuitive, user-friendly method to navigate through the campus when needed/wanted.
Problem Statement
The Question
Students and individuals within the disabled community on Purdue’s campus need an intuitive, user-friendly method to navigate through the campus when needed/wanted.
Final Design Preview: elevate X
How did I get here?
The Approach
Settling into the Problem Space
Research Overview
Secondary Research
Our focus of the secondary research was to investigate the current advantages/disadvantages of public transport, and the current status of autonomous vehicles/robots to ultimately determine how an autonomous vehicle (AV) may play a role on Purdue’s campus (or a college campus).
We wanted answers to how it could become a more preferable choice for disabled individuals, especially students navigating through campus; as well as how it could operate off of big streets and roads.
Primary Research: General Survey & Interviews
In order to gather a more personalized and realistic data and insights from our core users, the team reached out to the Disabled Student Union at Purdue University for a general survey and some user interviews.
Main Takeaways: So why Elevate X?
>90% of our participants responded that during their time of injury or with their disability, Purdue’s campus was difficult to navigate across
→
Elevate X would be a better choice for campus navigation because students require a high specificity in pick-up/drop-off points, opposing to how public transportation operates
No human needed behind the wheel to drive or operate the vehicle, meaning AVs will provide greater freedom for people with disabilities
AVs could shorten the commute time of people with disabilities by increasing their transportation options → greater control of personal time
Low-Fidelity to Mid-Fidelity
Ideation & Prototyping
“How can we implement these research insights into ideas for an on-campus AV service?”
My team and I started ideating and sketching concepts for the physical vehicle as well as the mobile app for Elevate X.
At the end of the sketches, I conducted multiple rounds of scenario-based usability testing on them. My team and I then iterated & modified the sketches according to the major insights that I wanted to focus on in order to accurately address our findings and design with purpose. The factors are listed to the right.
Low-Fidelity Sketches: The Vehicle
My team and I first started off sketches with what the physical vehicle might look like, exterior and interior. We were inspired by the 4-wheel e-bikes, ZOOX, and other visualizations of autonomous taxis.
Low-Fidelity Sketches: The Mobile App
To complement the physical vehicle, I then started off sketching the mobile app that would enhance the ride experience before, during, and after.
Mid-Fidelity Mobile Mock-Ups
Through an in-team evaluation of our low-fidelity sketches conducted from comparing and aligning them with our research findings, I moved onto redesigning the mobile app into a mid-fidelity mockup stage.
Accessibility: How could Elevate X make a difference from previous transportation methods to create a simple, realistic, and user-friendly experience for the core users?
Use Cases: How would the experience vary across various types of the core users? (e.g. would they be using a wheelchair, crutches, or just walking in a slower speed, etc?)
Social Interactions: Users identified that they would prefer to not be isolated from friends/guardians. How could we implement this to our design?
I then applied accessibility and simplicity into our design through an automated ramp, with safety locks activated on the interior for wheelchairs. I also implemented an extra seat into the interior for the user’s friend/family member/guardian to accompany the user.
The mobile app mostly focuses on ride booking, map views, modifying ride routes, and safety guidelines/directions for users, especially during their first few times using Elevate X.
Final Design Solution: Elevate X
The Vehicle
Elevate X is an autonomous, driverless compact “taxi” that can go off of bigger streets and roads, and onto pedestrian areas. The Elevate X vehicle is the main touchpoint our core users would be interacting with, alongside the mobile app.
As the vehicle arrives and opens the door, it will automatically roll out a ramp for the user to board the vehicle. The vehicle is designed to fit a wheelchair and a chair, but unnecessary space was reduced to keep it compact and small.
The Mobile App
Through this vehicle, we can empower students and individuals on campus who struggle with disabilities in physical mobility to be able to gain control of their personal time and greater freedom of navigating across Purdue’s campus.
My team and I were able to render a simplified 3D mockup of Elevate X’s AV touchpoint through TinkerCAD.
After getting into the vehicle, the user can secure the wheelchair through a ratchet on the floor of the vehicle and fastening the belt.
As mentioned, Elevate X is a multi-channel service that utilizes a mobile app to enhance the ride experience from before, during, and to after the ride. The users would be able to experience the end-to-end ride booking experience through the mobile app to conveniently schedule pick-ups and drop-offs.
Onboarding
Users can create an account/log in to existing account to get started. Map view and pick-up location starts off the ride experience to book a ride with Elevate X. When user chooses a destination, they’re also given a pre-confirmation notice to let them know the approximate time it would take for onboarding the ride.
Getting on the Ride
When the vehicle arrives at pick-up location, user can control the door system since the ride will be driverless. The onboarding step notice will still inform the user throughout this process of the moving track that will extrude and the approximate time it may take to get on board.
The user will see a visual status of the door when it’s opening and closing, as well as if their “seat” is secured or not (for wheelchair users).
During the Ride
As the ride begins, the user can do a few things. First and foremost, if any emergencies occur, they can directly notify 911 through the red emergency button in-app. If they wanted to chat with an Elevate X Chat Agent for less urgent issues, they may do so as well. (Assumption: Elevate X will have a Customer Safety Center with agents available for chat 24/7.) If a user did not have an accompanying friend/family/guardian and still wanted to share their locations, they can do so with the Share Location button.
If the user accompanies a friend or assistant, they can sit on the bench right in front of the user.
Although speculative, my team and I thought about the feasibility and how this service can be applied to Purdue University for its disabled/injured students who have limited physical mobility. We concluded by making a valid assumption of partnering Elevate X with Purdue’s Healthcare Services in order to provide ride accommodations free of charge for disabled students/individuals.
Results & Future Considerations
At the beginning of this project, my team and I had drafted a Project Contract & Agreement with our client that included our deliverables and objectives for this project. We had a metrics system to measure our success as well as our client’s satisfaction. The results of our project were as follows.
Overall, my team and I had a very successful project with Elevate X, and we were able to deliver a high quality of work to our client.
Future Considerations for Next Steps
If I had more time to work on this project, I think the first thing I’ll conduct would be a more thorough usability test on the final design. Also, I would reach out to a research lab with higher expertise and abilities to engineer such a vehicle, and potentially partner up for a cooperative project.
Personal Reflections
In general, I learned a very deep, valuable lesson as a UX/UI Designer. It was my first project solely led by students with almost no interference of a supervisor or a professor. I learned how to work with individuals from outside of my expertise in a cross-functional team, which was a lot of balancing between opinions, thoughts, and personal philosophies and beliefs.
Overall, I was very satisfied with what my team and I produced, and the personal skills (technical and soft skills) that I was able to grow, perfect, and apply through a very relevant and impactful topic like Elevate X.
