Furthering Intelligent Mobility Through the Adoption of AI in Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are set to remodel future transport; not only in terms of increased road safety and efficiency but also in the way passengers travel and experience each trip. Future driverless cars, enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), have the potential to revolutionise journeys and user experiences at a deeper level to provide more intelligent, responsive, and emotionally connected on-board assistance and solutions. Within this context, this paper provides an account of a multidisciplinary design-led innovation project which explored mobility to develop an understanding of the role of AI and AVs within tomorrow’s society. The aim was also to identify pain points of mobility and areas of opportunity, to simulate a set of future journeys and realise a series of design principles, value propositions and recommendations for stakeholders to action. A series of design thinking processes and tools were employed to investigate extreme journey scenarios in order to start questioning and then addressing tangible user needs and concerns in specific and unexpected situations. The research work conducted with a panel of industry experts proposes a distinctive approach to designing future travel experiences, which can help redefine autonomy whilst ensuring users’ needs and value are integrated into R&D processes.