The User Experience of Autonomous Vehicles

Present realities and future considerations

John WeatherfordNew Media InstituteGrady College of Journalism and Mass CommunicationUniversity of Georgia

@JohnWeatherford #uxAV

Brief history + context

State of the art in AV (Autonomous Vehicles)

Future thoughts

Brief history + context

State of the art in AV

SAEAutomationLevels

Level 1 - An automated system on the vehicle can

sometimes assist the human driver conduct some

parts of the driving task

Level 2 - An automated system on the vehicle can

conduct some parts of the driving task, while the

human continues to monitor the driving

environment and performs the rest of the driving

task

Level 3 - An automated system can both conduct

some parts of the driving task and monitor the

driving environment in some instances, but the

human driver must be ready to take back control

when the automated system requests

Level 4 - An automated system can conduct the

driving task and monitor the driving environment,

and the human need not take back control, but the

automated system can operate only in certain

environments and under certain conditions

Level 5 - The automated system can perform all

driving tasks, under all conditions that a human

driver could perform them.

Tesla

Tesla

L3 Automation already

shipping (Autopilot)

Partial automation

Uber

L4 Automation testing in

Pittsburgh

Uber

L4 Automation testing in

Pittsburgh

Silicon Valley +Traditional Manufacturers

“Google and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are teaming up to develop about 100 self-driving Chrysler minivans, while BMW is collaborating with Intel and Mobileye, an Israeli maker of components for autonomous systems. GM is investing in Lyft and is developing a fleet of robot taxis. GM also invested $1 billion in self-driving startup Cruise Automation and Ford put $182 million into cloud computing startup Pivotal Software, which helped it develop a mobility app. Ford promises to put 100,000 robot taxis on the road by 2021 and says it is developing driverless technology that will be affordable for the masses.”

- Bloomberg

Google

2 million miles of testing

No commercial plans yet

Mercedes-Benz

Integration with current

vehicles

Mercedes-Benz

Aggressive future

concepts

Future thoughts

Convenience

“We’ve envisioned a future where you can take your hands off the wheel, and the wheel out of the car. Your commute becomes productive and restful rather than exhausting.”

- Jeff Zients, DirectorWhite House National Economic Council

Safety + Regulation

“A self-driving car can’t get drunk. A self-driving car can’t get distracted. And a self-driving car will follow the traffic laws and prioritize safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.”

- Colleen Sheehey-Church, President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Ethics

“Three reasonable objectives of most vehicle operators are safety, mobility, and legality. In most instances, those three objectives can be achieved simultaneously and without conflict. In some cases, achievement of those objectives may come into conflict.”

- Federal Autonomous Vehicle Policy

Infrastructure

There are many concepts for what the inside of self-driving cars will ultimately look like… But when it comes to autonomous vehicles, the most important question is not what they will be like on the inside. It’s what changes they will enable in the world around them.

- John Zimmer, Co-founder, Lyft

Jobs

Psychology

The User Experience of Autonomous Vehicles

Present realities and future considerations

John WeatherfordNew Media InstituteGrady College of Journalism and Mass CommunicationUniversity of Georgia

@JohnWeatherford #uxAV