Identifying opportunities to improve in-car communication
New Product Innovation Design Research (Auto Electronics)
Understanding in-car communication needs
CHALLENGE: Observe in-vehicle communication and behaviors during daily drives to understand the unmet needs and opportunities to improve the experience of being in a car together.
PROCESS & APPROACH: We observed more than 50 hours of dash cam drive footage from 15 select participants from our online research community (individuals and families) to uncover actionable insights and clear strategic directions to inspire new product innovations. Providing customers with tiny incognito dash cams allowed us to capture authentic moments that occurred during drives. In addition to video footage, customers submitted longitudinal journals charting their experiences, and participated in a concluding survey to validate insights and test ideas to improve in-car communication. Deliverables included compiled and edited drive footage, a summary video, and a detailed final report with templates for stakeholder design teams.
RESULTS: Although many unpredictable factors affect in-car communication, we discovered that communication needs fall into specific patterns based on the arrangement of people in the car. Five distinct scenarios emerged and became the organizing framework for our final report and design templates to guide engineering and product teams in product development. Our observations revealed emergent ‘languages’ composed of collaboration, gestures, and non-verbal sounds, and highlighted the impact of seating arrangements on relationships and in-car social dynamics.