ECO COACH FEATURE
User Experience | Interaction Design
The Challenge
"the sticker says 24 mpg"
The project began with a question " Why does the sticker say 24 mpg fuel rating but I get 18 mpg"?
"lead foot"
To our surprise 84% of users do not understand how a car rapidly burns fuel.
The cause is due to fluctuated heavy braking and acceleration.
"what's this thing?"
An alarming 75% of users do not know what a Tachometer is.
A Tachometer sits next to the Speedometer measuring torque in the RPM metric
and shows how hard the engine is working, thus burning fuel.
Proposals
design A
In order for the user's to learn from inefficient performance I created a simplified form of a high chart.
The purpose of the chart is to reveal an impact journey of the user's driving habits reflected overtime.
initial driving response
Before history can accrue the high chart grows vertically up or down in response to the user's driving behavior.
At first, the initial response from the high chart will show drastic responses from the user
in order to evoke an overcompensated effort to better improve their efficiency
Efficient response
non-Efficient response
accruing history
Overtime, data is accrued revealing the driver's performance in efficiency.
Graphically the measurements begin to plateau showing the user where they land on the scale of their efficiency.
Efficient Average
non-efficient average
Design B
While "Design A" represents a summary of the user's driving behavior;
"Design B" focuses on how to immediately impact the user's driving technique so that they
know how to alter their braking and acceleration behavior.
"mechanics"
"Design B" replaces the use for the traditional Tachometer as a new "Standard" in Ford vehicles.
The Eco-Collar around the speedometer acts a "pacer" for recommended acceleration.
However drivers cannot be penalized for braking since it would be a safety liability.
maintaining rate
As the speedometer accelerates the Eco-Collar paces at a reccomended rate to maximize fuel efficiency
moderate rate
As the speedometer encroaches a more than recommended acceleration the Eco-Collar changes the atmospheric color to alert the user.
exceeded rate
When the vehicle exceeds the recommended rate the Eco-Collar alerts the user in amber.
Disclaimer: it does not resrtict the actual power output of the vehicle
Findings
user testing
Field testing was administered for Eco-Coach on a global scale to gather user performance and general feedback.
"In vehicle" tests were conducted in the United States and Germany with cities more associated with highway driving.
United States
Results from gathered in the United States were exemplary and beyond expectations.
For users "Design A" felt useful yet did not offer valuable feedback in "the now".
98% successful
However "Design B" offered a familiar mechanic to analog counterparts, user's often referring to as "fun and cool".
Germany
Results gathered from Germany were much more comprehensive and critical.
The "Design A" summary's feedback felt valuable for the long term but lacked specifics.
90% successful
However "Design B" felt less effective due to certain aesthetics, however was extremely engaging.
Users loved that it was a new mechanic and felt like it had always belonged in the cluster assembly as a standard.
Final Findings
After positive feedback from both proposals one design was chosen as a combination of the two.
Users overwhelmingly enjoyed the use of a new mechanic that enhanced the speedometer, yet
something that happened "in the now"
-
At slower speeds users wish the summary would show them how they were driving
ie: at a traffic light
Eco-Collar
A smaller gauge was added within the Eco-Collar to measure the distance from perfect acceleration.
Eco-Summary
During speeds of slower than 2-3 mph the summary would appear showing eco-driver summaries.
disclaimer: the imformation could also be reviewed via mobile.