Introducing AV-Sketch: An Immersive Participatory Design Tool for Automated Vehicle — Passenger Interaction

In the emerging automated vehicle (AV)—passenger interaction domain, there is no agreed-upon set of methods to design early concepts. Non-designers may find it challenging to brainstorm interfaces for unfamiliar technology like AVs. Therefore, we explore using an immersive virtual environment to enable expert and non-expert designers to actively participate in the design phases. We built AV-Sketch, an in-situ (on-site) simulator that allows the creation of automotive interfaces while being immersed in VR depicting diverse AV-passenger interactions. At first, we conducted a participatory design study (𝑁=15) by utilizing PICTIVE (Plastic Interface for Collaborative Technology) to conceptualize human-machine interfaces for AV passengers. The findings led to the design of AV-Sketch, which we tested in a design session (𝑁=10), assessing users’ design experiences. Overall, participants felt more engaged and confident with the in-situ experience, enabling better contextualization of design ideas in real-world scenarios, with improved spatial considerations and dynamic aspects of in-vehicle interfaces.