workshop protocol

passenger's state of mind: Future narratives for semi-autonomous cars

The workshop includes two interactive sessions of 90-minutes and takes 3 hours in total. It is open to 10-15 participants (2-3 teams of 5 participants) so the organizers can spare enough time for the discussions with each team. The workshop will be conducted through the online whiteboard tool Miro and the video conference tool Zoom.

SESSION-1: 9 September 2021 11:20-12:50 (UTC)

  1. Introduction

Duration: 30 minutes

This part includes a brief presentation about the background research, aim and conduct of the study, the introduction of each participant, and forming the teams that will work in parallel break-out rooms on Zoom.

2. Building on the future narrative - definition of the passenger activities and tasks

Duration: 45 minutes

Each team will join the break-out rooms and start building on the future narratives by using the visual materials provided on the Miro Board. The organizers will be visiting each team to involve in the ongoing discussions and provide additional guidance if needed. The Miro board will include travel scenarios (e.g., road tripping, going shopping, etc.) created with the use of car interior sketches overlaid on a series of panoramic street view images. The visuals will represent the key points of the journey viewed through the front-cockpit of a car and they will be supported with a list of incomplete prompts such as “They are bored, so they decide to…”, “He/she sees/notices…” to foster participants’ imagination. Each team of participants will then define possible user activities or tasks delivered through automotive user interfaces within these imaginary journeys. At this step, participants are encouraged to use the basic control and display images/gifs provided on the Miro board.

3. Wrap-up

Duration: 15 minutes

We will meet at the main room to introduce the details of the next session by referring to the Session-1 outputs.

SESSION-2: 10 September 2021 12:10-13:40 (UTC)

1. Warm-up

Duration: 10 minutes

The organizers will summarize the steps completed in Session-1 and introduce the Session-2 protocol before the previously formed teams go to break-out rooms.

2. Assignment of "passenger infotainment modes" and development of UI solutions

Duration: 40 minutes

Participants will pick at least three passenger infotainment modes. They will then assign these modes to relevant frames of the scenario to rethink the user activities and tasks with the passenger’s priorities in mind. It will continue with the generation of quick auto-UI solutions that will apply to the chosen use case and the passenger infotainment mode. The solutions can be in

(1) in content level (What type of visual/text-based information the car should provide?),

(2) in functionality level (What should the car offer in terms of in-car activities?), and

(3) in interaction level (How should the passenger/driver interact with the car, what control and display technologies can enable that?)

3. Discussions of the Workshop Outcomes

Duration: 40 minutes

Each team will be invited to the main room and present their auto-UI solutions based on the suggested narrative (7 minutes per team). We will then discuss whether these proposals can point out some patterns for future solutions and add to the strategies tackling the fluidity of passenger expectations during a journey in a semi-autonomous car. This will be followed by the participants’ feedback on the effectiveness of the workshop materials and methods (Such feedback can also be collected through a follow-up online survey).

expected outcomes

  • New example situations for passenger infotainment modes revealed through the investigation of future narratives.

  • New strategies for the automotive infotainment systems to adapt to changing priorities of the passengers and the changing role of the driver in a semi-autonomous car.

  • Insights on scenario/narrative-based auto-UI development methods to improve the workshop materials.