Helping Tesla passengers plan and enjoy curated roadtrips while traveling in autopilot mode along their route.
With commutes at a new low, Tesla would like to position itself as a great transportation for recreation brand. To do this, Tesla would like to leverage their strength in safety and self-driving technology to deliver an experience that rivals every other in the field of luxury travel.
In three weeks, our team consisting of one researcher (Darran) and designer (myself) developed an interactive solution that optimizes roadtrip experiences for Tesla passengers while still prioritizing safety on the road.
My Role
Team
Tools
Timeline
Project Manager UX/UI Designer
Joaquin Ugalde Darran Moore
Figma Photoshop Google Suite Zoom
3 week sprint in May 2021
CHALLENGE
The rise of a global pandemic and remote work has impacted people's need to drive and attitude towards travel as a whole.
While remote work has eliminated the need to commute for more professionals than ever, people still have a desire to travel as a way to escape their normal routines. However, travelers are much more cautious than ever to venture out as they grapple with the reality of a global pandemic.
DESIGN + BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
How might we enrich the driving experience for Tesla owners in order to increase the company's ridership and presence in the luxury travel space?
SOLUTION
Tesla Journeys: A curated roadtrip planner app that seamlessly integrates with autopilot on central display touchscreens.
Suggested points of interest along route
Passengers can enhance their chosen route by selecting a recommended list of places to learn about during their journey.
Guided information shown in real time
As points of interest approach, passengers can learn interesting facts and even bookmark places they want to visit later.
Access to destination-specific activities
Before arriving, passengers can select activities to enjoy in their final destination and receive this list in their Tesla app.
APPROACH
01
02
03
04
Research
Define
Design
Evaluate
Market Research Affinity Mapping User Interview Synthesis Journey Mapping
Target Users Problem Statement Design Principles
Sketches Wireframes Iterations Prototype
User Testing Results Next Steps
INITIAL MARKET RESEARCH
As a result of COVID-19, 56% of people no longer commute for work and 71% of people who do travel opt for private cars due to infection concerns.
These statistics, released by the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives (TRIP) journal, were key in highlighting the important role cars play when it comes to personal travel.
With this information in mind, my team set fourth on conducting our own research to focus deeper on people's personal driving behavior within the context of recreational transportation.
AFFINITY MAPPING
We interviewed a range of drivers (including Tesla owners) to understand their thoughts on self-driving technology and the future of personal travel.
Some of the talking points in these conversations included driving habits throughout a trip, safety concerns, and current travel desires.
Their responses were recorded on an affinity map to analyze trends and begin to identify guiding principles that our solution should address.
USER INTERVIEW SYNTHESIS
The key insights we gathered from our research centered around safety, exploration, and convenience.
Drivers own road safety
Travelers want to explore more
Planning trips to new places is hard
⚠️
🏔
🗓
"I believe drivers are responsible for safety, even when self-driving technology is assisting."
"I would like to explore my surroundings as I am traveling to my final destination"
"I always have a hard time planning activities to do when I am traveling to a new place"
JOURNEY MAP
Understanding Tesla driver's journey allowed us to identify where we could incorporate the most impact with a design solution.
TARGET USER + PROBLEM STATEMENT
All of our research insights were combined to paint a full picture of who our target user represents. Meet Jo!
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Before diving into design, we defined a few guiding principles that were directly tied to user insights.
INITIAL DESIGN
We began to explore a variety of possible solutions by conducting a series of quick design studio sessions.
WIREFRAMES
We translated sketches into a first draft of wireframes which helped solidify a layout that made sense with Tesla's existing display.
ITERATIVE DESIGN
Several design iterations occurred throughout the process of conducting user testing on the prototypes we developed.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
The final prototype facilitates our target user's key goals: Build excitement, feed curiosity, and ease travel.
We evaluated the final prototype with a series of task-based usability studies involving a range of drivers.
It was also important for us to survey participants in order to gain qualitative data connected to key performance goals. Here are a few highlights from the survey results:
96%
92%
98%
agreed our curated roadtrip app would enhance their travel experience
of current Tesla owners would utilize this application instead of standard GPS
of participants felt this experience would encourage them to travel more
FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
With more time, I would explore additional ways to integrate safety and business opportunities.
Additional safety could be achieved by providing riders with the option to utilize voice command and narration when exploring different points of interest.
Further business opportunities would be possible by adding route features that take into consideration supercharger locations.
