Mobi
Autonomous ride-hailing service for patients with mobility disabilities

Mobi is an autonomous ride-hailing service cooperating with Uber and Shirley Ryan Abilitylab to offer patients with mobility disabilities customized and enjoyable ride experiences to the rehabilitation hospital.

ROLES
Service Design
Research & Strategy
UI Design
Automotive HMI Design

TEAM
Individual Work

DURATION
5 Weeks
Personal Project @ SVA

00
SNEAK PEEK

The final product is an autonomous driving system that includes a display screen, a paired app, a business model, and a service blueprint. Research shows that this autonomous ride-hailing service can significantly improve the convenience level of wheelchair users' travel to 80%.

01
PROJECT OVERVIEW

The autonomous driving project is a school project aiming to explore the possibilities of autonomous driving technology. In the project, I designed an autonomous driving service for people with mobility problems since I found their inconvenience and need for mobility through my research.

02
PROBLEM

How might we solve the mobility problem of wheelchair users’ regular travel to the rehabilitation hospital?

03
DISCOVERY

I conducted secondary research by gathering data and information from the government websites and thesis and realized the challenging situations faced by people with mobility problems and their travel needs.

Why for people with mobility problems?

According to the CDC’s data, one in four adults in the United States has disabilities, and 13.7% of them have mobility difficulties.

Persons with disabilities rely more on personal vehicles as transportation

Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. The research was conducted both in the urban part of the city, and some rural regions, so the statistic can well represent persons with disabilities' modes of transport in Europe. From the diagram, persons with disabilities rely more on personal vehicles as transportation, most of whom are passengers instead of drivers.

People with disabilities’ numbers of trips are far less than those without disabilities

People with disabilities’ numbers of trips are far less than those without disabilities. People with disabilities reduce their trips and choose not to go out because of more reasons. Reasons, such as bad weather and peak hours, restrict their trips.

People with disabilities have higher travel needs for medical reasons than people without disabilities

The travel needs of people with disabilities such as shopping, entertainment, and work are lower than those of people without disabilities. But the purpose of medical reasons is higher than those of ordinary people. Because this is not the main travel demand, it is easy to be ignored.

04
DEEPER INSIGHTS

What do people with mobility problems need? How do they feel? What kinds of challenges they are facing?

I conducted primary research including the empathy map and user journey for the primary research. Through these research methods, I am more resonated with people with disabilities.

Gains

  • New ways of travel using autonomous driving can solve their mobility difficulties, such as uneven ground that makes it difficult for them to navigate wheelchairs.

  • The design needs to pay attention to their needs. Such as how to make the wheelchair go up and down freely.

Pains

  • People with disabilities live a harder life than
    I expected it before. Except for the inconvenience brought by their disabilities, they have to face people’s discrimination and stares.

  • Most public facilities ignore their needs. Accessibility is very difficult for them when there are no ramps or a disabled toilet.

The user journey map was designed based on a typical user with mobility problems to better understand their needs, challenges, and design opportunities.

05
SOLUTIONS

Who are the ideal partners?

Uber
Ride-hailing company

• The largest ride-sharing company in the USA
• Convenience of reserving a car online and being flexible to adjust the schedule
• Willingness to offer people with mobility disability special & accessible services ( Uber WAV - Wheelchair accessible already existed)

Shirley Ryan Abilitylab
Rehabilitation hospital

• Best rehabilitation hospital in the USA
• Most patients have mobility disabilities caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, and brain injury
• Patients are from all over the country so they have the transportation needs to the hospital

The users’ pains are caused by their mobility difficulties, and the current products cannot fill their needs. So the service focuses on using autonomous advantages such as more freedom of interior space, more privacy and safety of the ride experience, and a more flexible schedule system to solve users’ problems. Moreover, the service will consider the problems of getting in and getting off the car by using the adjustable electronic ramp and bring entertainment, such as watching movies on a big screen, to create an enjoyable journey for users. Help users easily and safely travel alone, thus helping them realize their self-worth.

What are the values?
How to approach the goal?

The service blueprint map shows how the service will help the users during their experience, considering frontstage actions, backstage actions, employee actions, the technology behind it, and the support system.

What’s the service delivery process?

06
DESIGN

What products are included in the service?

Mobi comprises two parts: an automotive HMI and an app. The driving monitoring, entertainment category (movies and TV), and ramp control function were given greater attention in order to achieve the goal.

How will the users navigate the app through the journey?

How to approach to the visual design?

Design Principles

Design System

App UI

Automotive UI

Usage scenario

Emma’s doctor Tomas recommended Emma to use Mobi, an automotive ride-hailing service offered by Uber and cooperating with the hospital. So it would be much easier for Emma to go to the hospital independently next time.

Emma found the service in Uber’s app and reserved an autonomous car for her next week’s visit.

The car arrived 10 minutes earlier and waited outside. After the facial recognition, Emma had the authority to take the ride and control the car.

Emma connected her app with the autonomous car via Bluetooth and could easily adjust the ramp.

Emma interacted with the screen in car, and had great experience with different functions, such as entertainment function.

She felt her experience was great so she left good comments.

07
PROTOTYPE

08
REFLECTION

Due to the challenges of testing the product with actual wheelchair users, I sought feedback from three senior product designers. Their insights were invaluable in refining the design. Additionally, the project attracted interest from a potential investor, leading to a discussion about the feasibility of implementing the product.

One of the senior product designers suggested incorporating voice assistance into the product and expanding the potential user base beyond wheelchair users to a broader audience with disabilities. This includes individuals with visual impairments or those who have difficulty using touch interfaces.

Thinking bigger and outside the box

Another valuable piece of feedback from a product design manager was the importance of checking color contrast. Given that the product is intended for people with disabilities, ensuring the readability of the app is crucial. This reminder prompted me to pay attention to every detail of the product to achieve accessibility and usability.

Considering design details

NEXT PROJECT

Created UX flow and UI for tablet interfaces at Riot Game’s Shanghai Bund event, launched in June 2023.