Organisation: Designability
Amount awarded
£61,677.93 + £1,500 Impact Funding
Completed
2020
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre
5 August 2021
Overview
This project looked at design issues relating to Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and how technology can be developed to benefit people with a range of age-related impairments.
The project report looks at engagement with the public on the use of CAVs and the needs of users with specific impairments, and also outlines the requirements for a human-machine interface for CAVs, based on the results of trials carried out using a simulator, and on the road.
Designability has disseminated its research findings and design insights to other designers, the automotive industry, universities, emerging manufacturers and the British Standards Institute to ensure that CAVs are fit for purpose for the older generation.
More detail
CAVs offer the potential for older people with an age-related disability to continue to be mobile, while reducing the risks caused by people who should not be driving, thereby potentially improving safety and benefitting all road users.
In 2016, the Road Safety Trust awarded £62,908 of grant funding to Designability, a national charity set up to transform the lives of disabled people and those living with a long-term health condition.
This grant supported Designability’s participation in ‘Flourish’, a multi- partner project which explored how innovations in autonomous vehicle technology could be delivered in the UK. Flourish looked at opportunities to enable older adults to travel independently and flexibly in these vehicles.
The Designability project explored the design of CAVs and how technology can be developed to benefit people with a range of age-related impairments. CAVs are expected to improve road safety and road travel efficiency, as well as creating an accessible platform for travel.
In total, 145 older people participated in Designability’s research, the findings from which were used to create a user-friendly human machine interface (HMI), that was tested in eight trials in both simulators and real-world environments. HMIs are used to control the function of a product so that it performs as intended by the user.
The HMI within an autonomous vehicle is the technology that allows the human to communicate with the vehicle and vice versa. It is essentially the ‘dashboard’ of the vehicle, enabling the user to control the actions of the autonomous vehicle, and provides information about the journey to the user. Interaction with the HMI can be via touch or voice, and feedback is provided by a visual display and speakers.
The research was also used to create the following 10 design insights:
• Make it attractive and clear
• Balance function with simplicity
• Anticipate user error
• Make it consistent
• Make it flexible
• Keep the user informed
• Make it intuitive
• Make it approachable
• Break down tasks into steps
• Make it adaptable
More information and the full project report can be found on the following link:
https://www.roadsafetytrust.org.uk/funded-projects/16/designability-flourish?rq=designability
Find out more about the Flourish project:
http://www.flourishmobility.com/