Connected Vehicle Program

Role: Lead designer

Team: 2 senior UX designers, 1 visual designer, 1 researcher

Fiat/Chrysler (FCA) was trailing the in the automotive industry’s race to connect their vehicles. Sprint created a strategic partnership with FCA to provide connectivity and as the lead designer for the Connected Vehicle program I worked across multiple channels including web, mobile app, and in vehicle experiences to create cohesive omni channel customer experience from the first dealership purchase to vehicle resale.

Problem

The lack of a wireless connectivity partner created a gap in FCA’s Uconnect offerings, limiting customers' access to advanced features and mobile app integration.

Approach

Partnering with FCA the team aligned on the platform strategy as well as applications to be created across the various product lines, including specialty applications and features for various models.

Experience mapping

Working with the technical team I was able to understand the technical aspects which connect the vehicle to a cellular network. This was paramount in order to create the best possible user experience. The backend and front end processes across each channel needed to be mapped out for each experience to understand how they impact the user. This complexity needed to be hidden to provide a simple, elegant experience. These mapping exercises were completed for each app, feature and process.

Detailed design

After the mapping the experiences detailed wireframes were created for features and in vehicle app for web, in vehicle, and mobile app experiences. The detailed wireframes took into account backend functions as well as the user’s needs. I worked across the team of designers to ensure their designs aligned to the patterns established.

Style guides

I then created the style guides for visual designs to provide consistency in branding, affordances, and UI to the in vehicle applications. The style guides were made so any designer could understand and design for the system without changing the user’s mental model. Other visual designers on the team utilized the documents to help accelerate the final visual asset created for the technical teams.

Research

In person user testing conducted was to assess the usability of the apps on the in vehicle display. After results were provided, I worked with the research team to create design implications to resolve issues the users were facing. After sharing the research findings and implications with the stakeholders the designs were updated.

Award winning experience

The design resulted in an award-winning in-vehicle interface and a simple-to-use mobile application, leading to customer satisfaction with in-vehicle technology. This user-centered approach established a strong foundation for future iterations of Chrysler's connected vehicle program, allowing for the seamless integration of new features and functionalities. (Winner of the AOL Autos Technology of the Year Award 2013)

Connect vehicle