Which AI do you wanna choose? efficient or altruistic?

Digital prototypes to address drivers' tendency to prioritize personal convenience over safety for pedestrians and other road users, aiming for trustworthy AI

The challenge

Ford, an automotive company, envisions a future where AI technology could unlock unprecedented possibilities, yet how to create trustworthy AI in driving a car remains the challenge. With “Research through Design” process, our team developed iterative prototypes, resulting in a final speculative concept.

Value delivered

Our team focused on drivers facing ethical dilemmas, balancing personal convenience with safety for themselves and others outside the car. This prioritization of personal efficiency can lead to aggressive or selfish driving behaviors, potentially overlooking the perspectives of pedestrians and others. Encouraging drivers to reflect on their decisions promotes empathy toward pedestrians and breaks their own bubbles of their routines.

My contribution

🧐 Synthesize insights into a meaningful concept 
⚒️ Develop and test prototypes
✍️ Visualize concepts

Category

Academic / Team

Type

Tech / Space / UX / UI

Scale

2000mm x 2400mm 

Period

Feb. 2022 – Jun. 2022
The course from Interactive Technology Design

Role

Concept ideation, Insight analysis, Prototyping, Testing, Concept visualization

Supervised by

Tomasz Jaskiewicz

Client

Ford

Concept Explorations with Research Through Design

How might we create a meaningful experience in the car?

#1. AI nudging attention to the driver’s surroundings
#2. AI influencing the users’ worldview
#3. Treasure hunting ‘impressions’
#4. AI confronting people with their own biases
AI nudging attention to the driver’s surroundings
AI provides a slight change in daily driving routines for drivers to appreciate them as a special day.
People found the idea of discovering something new in their mundane route meaningful, making them more conscious. However, participants struggled to manage AI's various feedback types simultaneously, including lights, vibrations, and voice-over prompts.
AI influencing the users’ worldview
How do people think about breaking their bubbles?
There are various levels of approaches to alter someone's worldview. Directly challenging the societal "bubble" on a higher level proved too extreme and unsettling for people, as they felt a lack of control. A gentler approach, introducing them to different worldviews to broaden their own, is perceived as more meaningful.
Treasure hunting ‘impressions’
AI presents fun challenges along the route for drivers to pose grabbing gestures for collecting virtual objects
Collecting items and exploring surroundings lacks inspiration and meaning. The airborne grabbing interaction was not sufficiently intuitive. However, employing gamification would be an engaging method to motivate a driver such as using haptic feedback.
AI confronting people with their own biases
AI's bias, stemming from its training data, can serve as a tool to expose and confront individual biases by demonstrating their data interpretation.
People seek transparency in AI labels, desiring to understand the reasoning behind conclusions. They also want evolving labels reflecting changing behavior, prompting immediate action.

What if, inside a car, there are two conscious AI’s that react to the driver’s ethical decisions?

Prototyping a car ambience

We designed the entire ambiance of a car that could switch modes between efficient and altruistic AI entities depending on the driver’s selection. The mode they choose changes the interior of the car, seat structure, and vision, thus overall driving experience.

What happens in the efficient mode?

The car changes in order to create a more focused driving environment, aiming to make the driver not get distracted by any other environmental factors.

The vision on the front window gets blurred on the sides of the window in order to make the driver focus on the middle, where they are going
Head pillow closes around the sides of the driver’s head, in order to support and prevent the driver to look on the sides

What happens in the altruistic mode?

The car changes to create a more open driving environment where the driver could see and react to the outside world. 

The vision on the front window gets clear on all sides of the window in order to drag the attention of driver to their surroundings
Head pillow opens up around the driver’s head, to motivate the driver to look around

Takeaways

Simplifying interaction of the concept is crucial for a successful exhibition. Initially, we had a complex concept but decided to break it down to make it more understandable for visitors.

Human like tactile feedback can foster a sense of support and energy, as found in the prototype testing. This feedback also aids in creating a gentle interaction for critical-thinking design.

Facilitating Internal and external communication played a vital role in developing the best concept. Internally, we established a common design framework to enhance team communication. Externally, we balanced practical client perspectives with speculative designer insights while working with Ford.

Context and Vision

Our concept provokes critical thinking of drivers’ driving behaviors. In the long term, we expect that cars can provide more interactions to users and have its own personalities that can present their ideas and information through multi-modals such as chairs, windows, and even overall interior environment. Users can choose to let which AI contributes to their driving experience based on their current moods and scenarios. 

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