Using Time and Space Efficiently in Driverless Cars: Findings of a Co-Design Study

The alternative use of travel time is a widely discussed benefits of driverless cars. We therefore conducted 14 co-design sessions to examine how people manage their time, to determine how they perceive the value of time in driverless cars and derive design implications. Our findings suggest that driverless mobility will affect people's use of travel time and their time management in general. The participants repeatedly stated the desire of completing tasks while traveling to save time for activities that are normally neglected in everyday life. Using travel time efficiently requires using car space efficiently. We found out that the design concept of tiny houses could serve as common design pattern to deal with the limited space within cars and support diverse needs.