BMW i Interaction Ease
BMW i Interaction Ease is a concept model that envisions the experience of the future with autonomous mobility. It was created with the ambition to set the foundation for an autonomous vehicle that can interact and communicate with passengers in a genuinely intuitive way.
Details
Designworks BMW
2019
My Role
Creative Technologist
Interaction Designer
Role Details
Experience Design
Interaction Design
Prototyping
Fabrication
Shown in
CES 2020
BMW i Interaction Ease
BMW i Interaction Ease is a concept car that imagines a luxurious, human, and intuitive experience in the future of autonomous on demand mobility. A wide range of technologies, including smart materials and hidden sensors combine to enable the vehicle to understand and respond to natural human interaction. This was a project I worked on during my time at Designworks BMW in 2019.
My Role
As a designer–technologist hybrid role, I was a part of the core team from the initial conception of the project to the final fabrication of the model. In the initial stages of the project, I mapped the user journey, created scenarios and storyboards that guided the overall user experience of the Interaction i Ease.
I was the primary Creative Technologist of the project, which meant that I worked closely with CMF, automotive, and other interaction designers to iterate on our experience concepts through rapid prototyping. I developed a wide range of digital and physical prototypes, some of explorations included:
– Expression of and interaction with BMW's Intelligent Personal Assistant
– Exploration of (lot's of) LED's and soft/hard materials
– Testing computer vision technology to support gesture control as a method of interaction
– Creating motion animation of the light travelling in the interior cabin and exterior of the model
Some of the work I did are documented below –
User Journey
These were some of the early versions of the user journey and exploration of interaction model I sketched, from onboarding to the transition out. These sketches were later developed further to include more details on technology enablers, interactions between user and the intelligence through natural user interfaces, and depth in the narrative of the experience.
Sketching and Building the Experience
Interaction Exploration - Gesture and eye-tracking input methods
Testing computer vision inside a seating buck model
Testing gesture control with UI inside a seating buck model
Creating an Intelligence that is Everywhere
My primary focus was to bring life to the BMW's Intelligent Personal Assistant. The goal was to create a dynamic and ephemeral presence of the intelligence that would be intuitive and playful to interact with.
As a result, it was created through a symbiosis of material, light, and animation. I experimented with various technologies and materials to create an intelligence that could be everywhere – a presence that ultimately disappears, yet lives within every surface.
Close-up of light travelling through floorboard
Evolution of dash surface design and lighting
Trying out under dash lighting as form of feedback for gesture control
Just like that!
Motion animation work of idle and active modes of the intelligence on early seat fabric sample
Mockup of the confirmation interaction, with multiple LED's and motion animation
Light travelling on the floor (under the wood)
Final Model @ CES 2020
The complete project overview can be found here. Feel free to read a bit more about the project on Car Design News! Thank you for checking out this project.
All photo credit to Designworks BMW.
Other projects
Habit Building Companions
