The Future

a holistic study

Domain

Autonomous Vehicles for Consumers

Focus

Rider Trust & Transparency

Rider Trust

and Transparency

When there's no driver to make eye contact with, no voice explaining a detour, and no visible human making decisions — how does an interface fill that void? This case study explores three systems that bridge the gap between what an AV knows and what a passenger feels.

Perception Gap

Vehicles act on sensor data passengers can't see, creating a disconnect between vehicle behaviour and rider understanding.

Pickup Confusion

City restrictions and unclear curbside logic leave riders stranded or vehicles circling or unable to locate the

Safety

First-time riders worry: what happens if something goes wrong? No visible human creates uncertainty about fallback systems.

Onboarding gap

Most AV interfaces assume prior experience. New riders encounter unfamiliar hardware with no contextual guidance on first use.

Perception Gap

Vehicles act on sensor data passengers can't see, creating a disconnect between vehicle behaviour and rider understanding.

Pickup Confusion

City restrictions and unclear curbside logic leave riders stranded or unable to locate the vehicle.

Safety

First-time riders worry: what happens if something goes wrong? No visible human creates uncertainty about fallback systems.

Onboarding gap

Most AV interfaces assume prior experience. New riders encounter unfamiliar hardware with no contextual guidance on first use.

Question: How can I design a rider experience that builds trust, clarity, and comfort in a fully driverless ride?

Transparency of reasoning

A narration system the entire way that actively uses voice updates along with interface displays to communicate unexpected decision with the user, and answer any questions.

The screen UI on the vehicle would show the three-state timeline (past / active / upcoming) with cause-and-action pairings. The main goal is to mirror how a driver would explain decisions.

Familiarity of first contact

Three sequential phone screens showing the Bluetooth detection moment, the three-step guide (confirm → unlock → start), and the onboarding flow is triggered once per user. Subsequent rides skip directly to ride controls, preventing repetition.

Further Exploration

Designing Comfort & Ridesharing

Inspiration utilizing Waymo's current LiDAR technology set up and the removal of a steering wheel. The closest reference to a current working model of a no steering robotaxi is ZOOX which has been labeled as toaster-shaped.

sketch

render

Also see:

James Turrell - Lighting as an atmospheric experience

Installation view of James Turrell: The Substance of Light, Ganzfeld Apani (Entrance Space), Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, 2018. Photo: Florian Holzherr. Courtesy of Museum Frieder Burda. © James Turrell

Installation view of James Turrell: The Substance of Light, Ganzfeld Apani, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, 2018. Photo: Florian Holzherr. Courtesy of Museum Frieder Burda. © James Turrell