Designers: Jocelyn Qiao, Violet Zhang
Deliverables: UX Research and Design, UI Design, 3D Modeling, 3D Printing, Video Demo
Project Overview
Visioner is an intelligent AR galsses designed to provide elderly drivers suffering from glaucoma with an improved driving experience, enabling them to drive more safely.
Project Background and Challenges
Due to the aging of society, the number of elderly drivers is steadily rising. This demographic shift has also spurred the growth of the silver economy, with seniors emerging as a significant consumer group. However, the automotive industry has yet to tailor its products and services to the needs of older drivers or design a more senior-inclusive driving experience.
"Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness globally, affecting an estimated 80 million people worldwide. "
- World Health Organization (2022)
Blind spots - users may experience a wider range of blind spots in their vision, which can hinder their ability to detect objects and obstacles in their surroundings.
Low colour contrast - users may perceive colours with lower contrast, and distinguishing between similar shades and hues is difficult.
Hard to judge distance - may face challenges in accurately judging the distance of objects, which can affect their ability to navigate their environment safely.
How might we enhance the driving experience for elderly drivers with glaucoma?
Research and Inspiration
Research suggests that a driver’s vision can’t remain on screen for more than 3 seconds, or it will increase the chances of accidents. AR glasses provide an enhanced view for drivers with this vision limitation.
Motivation
The aging population faces mobility and movement challenges that affect their ability to drive safely. Difficulty with vision stands out as a particularly severe issue for elderly drivers. Glaucoma is one of the common age-related eye diseases which challenges driving seriously.
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a common eye disease among elderly people. Glaucoma can cause vision loss, known as “tunnel vision,” where a person’s field vision becomes narrowed, and they lose their peripheral vision. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness globally, affecting an estimated 80 million people worldwide.
What are the challenges that elderly drivers face while driving with glaucoma?
We interviewed five drivers, having them walk us through the entire driving process to learn their opinions and frustrations. I found three key user pain points.
Persona
Reframe our Design Question
How might we design an experience that leverages the unique qualities of the given situation rather than trying to fix or eliminate it?
Tunnel vision is a visual phenomenon where a person's focus narrows to a small, central area, and they become less aware of their surroundings. While tunnel vision can be problematic in some situations, it can also provide some advantages in others. We take tunnel vision as an asset by drawing inspiration from shooting game effects and the concept of a safe title zone in film design and applying these ideas to our UI design, which displays critical information more centred and focused on the screen.
Solutions
Our proposed solution for meeting the needs of drivers with glaucoma is to create AR glasses that are integrated with the car media system. This will enable the glasses to project redesigned road signage and contextual information onto the driver's visual field to enhance their driving experience.
The daily-life-looking appearance of the glass design
The effortless looking of the glasses minimizes drivers' pressure of notice wearing them.
Pair with the car's system
Integrating the glasses with the car's system to access the turn signal status and blind spot detection sensors.
Provide instructions through both visual and audio interactions
Using more visually friendly designs in the title safe area and voice guidance to ensure information delivery.
Why AR Glasses?
Research suggests that a driver’s vision can’t remain on screen for more than 3 seconds, or it will increase the chances of accidents. AR glasses provide an enhanced view for drivers with this vision limitation.
User Flow
Sketching and Modeling
Through research, we found many unique and innovative AR glasses designs. However, we thought that the scenario of using it is more daily, and we decided to make it looks like effortless and generic eyeglasses.
Features
1. Touch control for turning the glasses on and off on the outside of the left arm.
2. A speaker is embedded for voice message delivery under two arms of the glasses.
3. A projector in the right arm will project through the rectangle screen behind the right lens and show the view in front of the sight.
Final Look
3D Printed Physical Prototype
3D Printing Physical Demo
UI Design
UI Design and some visual components
Colour: # 0EF8F0. This is a more saturated colour choice of cyan for the optimum wavelength range for the human eye.
Font: Arial bold with 5% more spacing. Larger sans-serif text and spacing are more suitable for seniors’ reading habits.
Brightness: For seniors, the amount of incoming light is reduced by about 28-43%. Using AI filters to enhance the brightness.
Scenarios and Final Screens
There are four main scenarios that we included in our design.
1. Speed Detection and Sign Indication
2. Highway Exit Reminder
3. Navigation
4. Lane Change Assist
2. Highway Exit Reminder
3. Navigation
4. Lane Change Assist
Future Steps:
We can add voice-over for voice control or voice message features for a better demo. In addition, AR glasses are very flexible to fit different customers’ needs. For example, customers can get prescripted and even sunglasses for different uses.
Future Opportunities
The glasses could include advanced environment recognization for detecting potential hazards, such as auto-adjusting brightness.
The glasses could also have personalized features that allow the user to feel a sense of ownership and connection to the product. For example, medication reminders and weather and road condition forecast make the product more suitable for a larger audience group.