On 2019's fall semester, MassArt's class "Product Development Lab" was made up of a group of ten Industrial Design students and the department's Chairman, Judith Anderson, as our professor. Together we collaborated with The City of Boston's New Urban Mechanics Department (MONUM) and Daimler, to better understand what needs to happen within society to incorporate autonomous vehicles into the city of Boston in the future.​​​​​​​

Throughout the semester we did extensive research by visiting places such as Nutonomy, BSA Space, MONUM, the Daimler Experience at MIT's Media Lab, among others, and had valuable conversations with professionals in the mobility industry. We also conducted a focus group of seven people and interviewed about twenty-five individuals from different backgrounds to see a broad and inclusive spectrum of opinions and needs, focused on mobility in Boston.

As the end of the semester approached we needed to come up with a deliverable for Daimler and MONUM so with all our research at hand and the endless possibilities and uncertainties that had intimidated us at the beginning of the semester, we started brainstorming what we could do with all our gathered data... To make our project accessible and interesting to the people of Boston we knew the conversation about autonomous vehicles needed to continue with flexibility so we decided to create a modular interactive installation and mocked it up in our classroom. Our vision is to present this installation later on in public spaces with a high traffic of people.

Through our interviews, the most prevalent issue we found was the lack of familiarity with the subject and the uncertainty of the implications autonomous vehicles could have in their lives, so we decided to focus on the educational aspect. Since our focus target was a broad spectrum of people with different levels of knowledge and interest in the subject, we designed engaging activities that would appeal to all kinds of passerby, from novices to experts. With that in mind we divided and conquered by creating an array of activities with multiple levels of engagement.

These activities started with the ice-breaker map I designed, where people would put color-coded tacks on a map to say where they lived, where they spent most of their time, and where they went for leisure within Boston. The purpose of this activity was for them to easily visualize a bird's view of the city and reflect how diverse journeys are, how accessibility can be impacted by proximity to public transit, and the contrasting transportation methods people use to get around. It was a conversation starter about daily commutes.

Other segments included a video, edited by Courtney Dipietro, that ran on loop through the event, explaining basic concepts and common questions about autonomous vehicles. The next segment was our debriefed interviews including key quotes, concerns, and insights, all posted on the wall. Beneath the interviews there were stacks of booklets that represented five personas, where people could interact with stickers based on the needs they thought the personas could have. These "persona booklets", designed by Sina Seri and Jillian King, were the take-home items so the conversation about autonomous vehicles continued after our engagement.  

The "Shifting Fears" poster, designed by Jon Chevrette, Bradley Trepanier, and Alden Suokko, made the point to illustrate how humans have feared new technology through history, even though we now understand the value of these shifts created and how they've shaped society. The centerpiece for the installation was a scaled model of a city with an automated robotic car that would follow a pre-determined path, designed and confected by Chiyang (Ian) Chang, Chongsheng (Howard) Zhao, and Calder McCay. This part of the installation was meant to be an attention-grabber for passerby that would be interested in seeing a fun and dynamic, three-dimensional model.

Following the "Shifting Fears" poster, came the "Autonomous Vehicles: Pros and Cons" poster I designed. This poster was meant to provoke contrasting thoughts, exposing both sides of the possible implications autonomous vehicles will bring. We collectively clarified during the class that we did not want to make a persuasive kind of installation, but a transparent one that left people with enough information to form educated opinions on the future of mobility. Although the poster was well received in general, there were flaws in it such as the lack of a direct comparison between the pros and cons, as well as the need of a broader spectrum for factors that could be either positive or negative. 

I designed the final Questions activity which was the most physically engaging one. People would see two sets of six questions. One set was directed from us to them about their opinions related to mobility, and the other set was made up of questions directed from them to different entities where they would be able to ask the questions they had. There were blank cards on the table underneath each question with their respective color, and markers for everyone to use. We also put up a couple of our answers prior to the activity so that the first people were not intimidated by the "white canvas". 

The blank cards for answers had holes punched in so they could hang them on the tacks bellow each question. The strategy behind the tack hanging was for the activity to show a considerable amount of answers at once and also provide the flexibility for take them off and read them all if they wanted to. They answered whichever they were interested in, giving them a platform to express their thoughts, doubts, and opinions as well as giving us a valuable source of feedback and data.

Last but not least, I designed the signage for the activity. The entire graphic visual language for this project was based on The City of Boston's brand language as of December 2019, which Jillian King figured out.

The setup of the installation was co-designed by the entire team but arranged by Calder McCay and I.

Courtney Dipietro cmdipietro@massart.edu 

Bradley Trepanier bstrepanier@massart.edu
Alden Suokko assuokko@massart.edu

Jon Chevrette jhchevrette@massart.edu

Scaled Automated Robotic Car and City Model:
Chiyang (Ian) Chang, cchang351@massart.edu
Chongsheng (Howard) Zhao, czhao@massart.edu
Calder McCay, camccay@massart.edu (photographed the event)

Sina Seri, sseri@massart.edu
Jillian King, jdking@massart.edu

Sabrina Sorondo, sabrina.sorondo@gmail.com (me)

Judith Anderson, janderson@massart.edu