Apple Car 2025
ArtCenter
College
of Design
Location
Figma
Tools
Nov - Dec
2023 (5 weeks)
Duration
Shiya Wu
Yue Xi
Mario Santanilla
Yifan Ding
Max Wright
Team
Overview
We envisioned what surprises Apple Car could bring to the automotive industry, in line with Apple's ecosystem. The result is a story-driven interface design, highlighting the vehicle's potential for a frictionless, inclusive, and empowering future.
My Contribution
I designed the following prototypes:
Mixed Reality Collaborative Working
Mixed Reality FaceTime & Mini-App
Urgent Take-Over Request from Vehicle
I also contributed to the concept creation, UI & UX of other scenarios.
01 An Exploration into Apple's Ecosystem
What changes might Apple’s Ecosystem bring into the automotive industry?
02 Project Highlights
Switch to Autonomous Driving
Seamless Transition Between Personal Devices and Smart Cabin
03 Research
We expect a shift in the engineering-focused automotive industry, that emphasizes a greater role for early-stage experience designers. Thus, our approach starts with user and scenario, then move onto functionality.
EV User Research
Electric Vehicle (EV) pushes the boundaries of in-car experiences. We interviewed 5 EV drivers on their experiences with their cars:
EV Brands Competitor Research
To understand the current paradigm of EV market, we first-hand studied the HMI of 13 EVs in person:
04 Design & Prototyping
Apple connectivity is not only between the users devices but also between multiple users. We therefore developed a story with three characters.
Persona and Journey Map
Initial Sketches
User Testing
We tested low-fidelity prototypes with potential users in order to guide our final designs.
Scroll to left to see more:
Mixed Reality Collaborative Working
Magsafe Connection
Typing in Mixed Reality
Unplanned Take Over Request During Autonomous Driving
05 Final Design
Seamless Transition into Car
Once inside a verified car, Apple ID on personal devices will automatically connect to car and transfer ongoing activities to car interfaces, benefiting both car owners and passengers.
Efficient Switch to Autonomous Driving
In situations the autonomous driving mode is available, driver can press and hold buttons on both side of steering wheel for 3 seconds to enter autonomous driving mode.
Environment settings such as lighting and seat position will be automatically changed to match the preset.
MR Collaborative Working
Users can share MR screen with others in car by either 1) dragging and throwing a screen with gesture or 2) using the share button to select person(s) to share with.
By default, MR content is set to private mode, so only the creator can see it. When switch to public mode, other MR users in the car can also see the windows.
Expand the Possibility of MR FaceTime with Third Party Mini-Apps
“View Share” mode in FaceTime allows user to collaborate in a mini-app in MR, unleashing the potential of FaceTime.
Use natural gesture to interact with the interface.
Unplanned Take-Over Request in MR
During an unplanned TOR, non-driving frames will disappear, environment auto switch to driving mode, and both HUD and dashboard is used to inform driver of the situation.
Depending on 1) urgency of the situation and 2) driver’s status, the system will choose between a mid-level and a high-level emergency request.
Design System
We tested low-fidelity prototypes with potential users in order to guide our final designs.
06 Conclusion
We summarized and proposed three opportunities for Apple Car to excel at HMI:
Seamless integration between personal devices and smart cabin through expanding Apple’s Native Connectivity Features into car;
Support Spatial Computing to boost productivity and serve people’s free time in car due to L3 autonomous driving technology;
Making use of car when owner isn’t present.