This thesis project aims at exploring the challenges of sustainability within the segment of ski-helmets. It should lead to locating opportunities for transitioning them into the Circular Economy.

Ski-helmets are single-impact items, comprised of multiple different materials in inseparable product assemblies that prevent disassembly and recyclability. They are discarded after critical impacts, when safety critical parts fail. This also happens, when product parts with crucial perceived value deteriorate visually or fail to fit current fashion trends. Facilitating repair or refurbishment is currently obstructed through certifications and future developments seem promising but unsure. After discarding, helmets are not recycled, which leads to the loss of resources, energy and value.
Different ski-helmets were analysed on their ease of disassembly and their environmental impact using tools like HotSpot-Mapping, Disassembly Maps and Life Cycle Assessment. A survey and interviews were conducted for gaining insights into user-behaviour and expertise in ski-helmets and beyond.

The project’s outcome is a visionary concept for transitioning ski-helmets into the Circular Economy — the Airguard concept. The proposal includes a novel approach on energy-management, rather than using single-impact EPS-foam. A system of TPU air-vessels enables the absorption of multiple impacts and the structure can be easily restored through remanufacturing.

The Airguard concept is developed to fit into processes like recycling and remanufacturing. It is integrated into an assembly base with less different materials used, enabling product disassembly and improved access to parts with high impact, embedded energy and economic value — The priority parts.

The assembly base includes the possibility to change parts which subject to deterioration, like visors and soft-liners. Additionally, it provides a modular base for product add-ons and upgrades, increasing usability, flexibility and longevity.
After the product’s end of use, an incentive take-back system should enable retrieving used products to regain their value through recycling and remanufacturing.
As an intermediate step, the Eco-Savor concept was developed, focusing on recycling, while using the same assembly base as the Airguard concept, built around a core of trusted EPS. As a stepping stone, it should be used to improve product architecture and for gathering insights on part durability for later remanufacturing. A roadmap was developed to indicate development steps over the timeline of six years.

In the end, both concepts should stand as a vision towards sustainability, with many features to further explore and the possibility to gradually decrease environmental impact in ski-helmets.

Online sales are at an all-time high. People can have packages delivered to their doorstep within two days of ordering. The e-commerce market is flourishing and customers are happy with speedy delivery without extra cost. The high demand causes logistics companies to push themselves to the limit. Therefore, the number of delivery vehicles increases which is causing some problems. The large vans and trucks are cluttering European city centers and are causing dangerous situations. Commercial vehicles are seen as blunt and annoying in traffic.

Meanwhile BYD, a Chinese automotive company that specializes in electric technology, wants to launch commercial vehicles in Europe. The challenge is to design the commercial vehicles in such a way that they have a positive impact. This thesis is a styling strategy for electric commercial vehicles in a European context. It is part of the master Strategic Product Design at the Delft University of Technology.

BYD is a Chinese company that started as a manufacturer of batteries. In 2003 BYD entered the automotive industry, specializing in electric vehicles. The corporate identity of BYD is pioneering in electric technology and guiding the world towards a green future. BYD’s product portfolio consists of cars, trucks, buses, trains, batteries and electronics. In China BYD is well known, in Europe there is no significant brand awareness. A successful launch of commercial vehicles in Europe will help to create a positive brand image for BYD.

From research it was found that there is a need for smaller electric commercial vehicles in Europe. This is due to the increased need for last mile delivery vehicles in e-commerce and more governmental regulations to protect city centers by imposing emission, weight and size limits for certain areas. The logistics industry is facing a driver shortage. For making this profession more appealing companies are increasingly involving drivers during the procurement process listening to their input about comfort, safety AND styling.

For determining the right styling strategy for BYD commercial vehicles in Europe, the European context was mapped. Trend research and interviews revealed the underlaying themes that are important and resulted in a set of three desired product qualities which the product must have: Lightness, Wholesomeness and Professionalism. The Styling strategy should be easily explained and the best way to do that is by using a theme. The theme connects the desired product qualities with the BYD brand identity and helps to translate that to a tangible design.

The Theme for the styling strategy is Dragonfly. Just like a dragonfly BYD commercial vehicles move silently and nimbly from location to location. They are lightweight, agile, effective and harmless. According to Chinese folklore when a dragonfly arrives at your doorstep it is said to bring prosperity and good luck. People should say the same thing about BYD’s commercial vehicles.

The main finding of this thesis is that sustainability does not have to be a compromise for luxury (or vice versa). In fact: it can be a starting point for experiencing luxury mobility in new ways that are more beneficial to the environment, the user and the brand - in this case Genesis, the luxury brand of Hyundai. Based on this, a vehicle interior design proposal was developed for a sustainability-oriented future Europe (2035).

Problem

The automotive industry is under increased pressure to become more sustainable and has responded to this with electrification and new mobility services. However, there has been less focus on the interior design, especially in the luxury segment. The underlying problem is that luxury and sustainability do not easily seem compatible, resulting in sustainability efforts that are mostly limited to the trim and decoration of the product. The aim was to go one level deeper (the interaction level) by envisioning a new and more responsible interpretation of luxury mobility.

Analysis

Using the ViP-method, the three pillars of the project - the brand, luxury and sustainability - were deconstructed. This led to the conclusion that traditional luxury is 'ego-focussed'. Conversely, sustainability means looking beyond the ego, namely balancing the needs between users and the environment. This could be achieved with a circular approach to products and reinforcing human-nature connections in interactions. To innovate on this interaction level was considered most interesting, since this was lacking in Genesis' current sustainability strategy. This could be a way to bridge the gap between the brand's ambitious 'New Luxury' slogan and their current interior designs.

Vision

With an overview of the status quo, now the future context could be explored. This was done by studying sustainability-oriented, societal and technological trends that shape future ('new') luxury. With this the Eco-Luxury travel trend was identified, that united luxury benefits (digital detox for mental wellbeing) with environmental benefits (awareness for more responsible behaviour). Based on this an interaction vision was created of exposing users to their environment, inspired by yachts with open-air lounges. This led to a moodboard and scenario that became the
foundation for the design.

Design

Next, several ideas were explored for the overall vehicle architecture that impacts the interaction. A GT proportion with off-road capability was selected to fit the interaction vision. Based on this a basic technical package was developed as well as several concepts. The selected concept reinterprets the 'majestic bonnet proportion' of typical luxury cars, with a yachting-inspired lounge deck. Here the user is invited to unwind and connect with his/her surroundings.

The lounge can accessed via an interior that is designed to fully immerse in the travel environment. The space looks airy thanks to the enlarged visibility and a calm and honest design, to prevent any distraction. Autonomous driving makes you focus fully on the road ahead, thanks to the absence of a dashboard with steering wheel. Instead the vehicle can be assisted when nessary with a joystick from the comfortable seating position of a hammock.

Evaluation

The design was optimised after extensive reviewing with professionals, experts and users. This led to a final design that was created in 3D. The design is presented with 2D renderings, as well as an interactive, Augmented Reality model.

The foundation of this graduation project lies in the future mobility sector, and will be performed in collaboration with Vanmoof Bicycles. Within this thesis the future context of mobility will be considered with respect to the changing societal landscape. The project will be concluded with a concept and prototype for Vanmoof. This physical prototype will be developed in order to gather further insights.

Technological advances have led to the development of autonomous driving. The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) defined five automation levels in order to differentiate the responsibilities between the driver and an automated driving system, ranging from “No Automation” (L0), to “Conditional Automation” (L3) and “Full Automation” (L5). The transition to full automation, however, brings new risks, such as mode confusion, overreliance, reduced situational awareness and misuse. Therefore, led by SWOV and together with many other parties, a 4-year project MEDIATOR is launched. The goal is to create a self-learning mediating system which guarantees safe, real-time transition of control between human driver and automated system depending on who is better fit for drive (Mediator, 2019).When the automation system reaches its operational limit in a given traffic situation, the automation issues a so-called take-over request (TOR), asking the driver to take back control of the vehicle (Gasser & Westhoff, 2012; Hoeger et al., 2011). The Human Machine Interface (HMI) plays a critical role on passing signal from the automated vehicle to driver when TOR happens. Therefore, it is of vital importance in avoiding misunderstandings, misuse, over-reliance, reduced situational awareness and mode confusion. However, nowadays, there are various different HMI design for autonomous vehicles in the market. Develop an unified HMI design principle to regulate the autonomous vehicle industry is also one of the tasks of MEDIATOR project.The graduation project is focusing on the HMI research and design when takeover happens ( see Figure 1). The key research questions of the graduation project are “when is it needed to communicate what kind of information and how to communicate the information with the driver during takeover?” So exploring the scenarios of TOR and then define the similarities and differences are one of the tasks. Simultaneously, from a research of Bazilinskyy and colleagues (2018), the means to communicate take-over requests are divided into three main categories that may be used in different level of urgency for take-over transition: visua l(written messages or signals shown on cluster, head unit or other in-vehicle displays), auditory (sonorous signals or voice messages), and vibrotactile (vibration of the steering wheel or seat). So it will be one of the challenges to explore which modalities to communicate TOR are the most effective means. In addition, driver’s situational awareness (SA can be defined simply as “knowing what is going on around us”) predicts the takeover performance. Drivers are better able to respond to hazards when they’re aware of the driving context. Therefore, enhancing the SA is also another challenge for the design of the takeover journey.In conclusion, the objective of the project is to design the HMI of autonomous vehicles in order to enhance situation awareness for a better take over transition/journey.

In 1886, humanity started a great effort to move away from horseback and build a carriage over which they have full control. A century-and-a-half later, we have succeeded to the degree that we are looking for a way to relax in our automobiles. The MEDIATOR project tackles the transitional period between conventional automobiles and fully autonomous vehicles. The challenge that arose with this transition is that the vehicle has to be designed for both driving and not driving. This graduation project tackles the very bit that most people will get to know: how to interact with the machine to divide the power of control? And how do we keep re-establishing that balance? The act of changing control between the human driver and the automation as a driver is to perform a Control Transfer Ritual. With little collected information, this project started with an intensive 45 days of gathering information about interaction between man and machine. The knowledge in fields of feedback, automation levels, input possibilities, legislation, and acceptance by all parties involved combined formed the basis upon which the Control Transfer Rituals were designed. The Control Transfer Rituals differ based on urgency of the situation, the target and original level of automation , and, in case of MEDIATOR, who instigated the transfer. This led to the development of a total of eleven distinctly different Control Transfer Rituals, and the exploration of Minimal Risk Manoeuvres. To validate the effectiveness and usability of these designed rituals, a simulator was developed. This simulator uses the C,MM,N prototype vehicle as a base and consists of a dashboard, with integrated controls, a virtual environment built in Unity, and a dummy Decision Logic, the computing unit of the MEDIATOR project. The prototype allows people to experience how travel will be in the not so distant future. Furthermore, the MEDIATOR project will be able to use it as a base for oncoming development, to ensure that your future travels will be ever more comfortable and safe.

The 21st century is increasingly concerned with environmental and sociological problems caused by ineffcient use of resources. As more people migrates towards cities, a rapid increase in motorization rates and the number of private vehicles will further aggravate the already apparent urban challenges. Factors such as increased congestion, pollution and noise will result in a deteriorating life quality in cities for its inhabitants. Due to the fact that younger generations have an more progressive stance towards sharing services, proven by the success of companies such as Uber and AirBnB, sharing economies hold great disruptive potential in terms of urban transport. Cities are taking action against private ownership. European cities make room for pedestrians by blocking privately owned vehicles and by giving priority to shared mobility systems. These changes in urban city planning directly affect Audi. Audi does not yet offer a mobility solution that can offer door-to-door transit in this future city context. Therefor, it is relevant to consider mobility solutions that will offer a full brand experience covering all areas of the city. As cities grow bigger and stronger, more issues will be addressed directly at the city level. Planned growth in Europe has provided the time and resources for smart city planning. The systematic analysis of monitored data will lead to a more efficient world. The efficiency will translate into how Audi Millennials will use products and their services. They as consumers will demand a constant and seamless integration concerning mobility. Cities are blocking the use of privately owned vehicles in their centres. Even though cities are becoming more efficient and sprawled with a wide variety of efficient travel modes, Audi Millennials are forced to transfer from one transportation mode (and provider) to another in order to get to their destinations. This disconvenience leaves the door open to more premium travel experiences. Being able to provide a single travel mode and provider that will grant them access to all the city’s destinations will grant a premium experience through accessibility. The design makes use of two transport modes. One for travel on the city’s main roads and one for access to the city’s car-blocked areas. The first transport mode is a mobile HUB, which provides comfortable travel on the city’s main roads. The so called last-mile EV’s grant the user access to car-blocked areas of the city.

Electroluminescence (EL) is a phenomenon of light emission from phosphor material when it is exposed to a strong electric field. In practice, EL lamps can be fabricated easily with screen printing method - depositing layers of inks on top of each other, with customized patterns possible. EL can be seamlessly embedded on various substrate materials, generating soft and homogeneous light. This project is cooperated with Toyota Motor Europe to explore how EL material can be applied in the automotive domain.

The proposed concept is targeting for vehicle to pedestrian communication in crosswalking scenarios, especially with regard to highly autonomous cars. The envisioned interaction process is divided into five stages: auto-driving mode, pedestrian detection, deceleration, transition and acceleration, by means of the animated lighting from the triangle patterns. Its key value lies in that pedestrians can cross the street with more confirmation and certainty instead of guessing driver intentions. In addition, it provides insights about how to shape the interaction between pedestrian and automated cars in the near future as an early exploration.

Advances in technology during the last decade have made piloted vehicles a reality. With an increasing level of vehicle automation, the role of the driver changes from controlling and observing the driving environment into becoming a passenger. However, with the introduction of piloted driving, the user has to trust his life to a machine. Therefore, one of the most important factors in the human-car relationship will be trust that the occupant places in the piloted vehicle (Waytz, Heafner, & Epley, 2014). In fact, the feeling of trust will have a major impact on the acceptance of piloted driving and is an important factor in the judgment of autonomous systems (Garcia, Kreutzer, Badillo-Urquiola, & Mouloua, 2015). However, recent scientific surveys indicated that people are interested in the new technology, but hesitate to trust piloted driving vehicles (Schmidt, 2016, Schoettle & Sivak, 2014, Kyriakidis, Happee, & Winter, 2015). In order to define the future domain and context for this thesis, the target year is based on different expert forecasts on the development of autonomous driving. According to literature, it can be concluded that due to developments in technology, fully autonomous driving will be market-ready between 2025-2030 (ERTRAC, 2015; Rupp & King, 2010). Due to the fact that the next generation vehicles for 2020-2023 are currently under development, the selected target year for this thesis is 2030 in order to create a visionary input for the subsequent fully autonomous vehicle generation of Audi. The theoretical analysis about fully piloted driving and the related problem of trust in combination with the developed future context scenario of 2030, which will be discussed later in this thesis, led to the following mission statement: “Design of an AI Companion that evokes the feeling of trust by creating a relationship that is characterised by authenticity and control” Based on the mission statement, the interaction analogy of “using a compass for guidance in unknown territory” and the derived product qualities of “vivid”, “reassuring”, “familiar” and “magical”, the AI Companion was developed. The AI Companion is an innovative haptic interface concept for a fully piloted vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals with the objective to build trust between the vehicle and the occupants. By simply laying on hands, the AI Companion generates a magical, haptic movement that allows the user to feel the upcoming driving manoeuvres of the piloted vehicle. By actively moving the AI Companion the user has the ability to communicate with the vehicle and therefore shapes its driving dynamics. Through the interaction with the user, the AI Companion creates an individual piloted driving profile based on the needs of each occupant. In order to make the functions perceptible and to test if the AI Companion concept fulfils the desired product qualities in order to evoke the feeling of trust, a functional design prototype was build. To evaluate the concept, a user test with 47 participants was carried out. The user test revealed that the developed prototype satisfies the desired product qualities to a large extent. That in turn forms the basis for a trustful relationship between the user and the product. Therefore, it can be stated that the AI Companion has a positive influence on the feeling of trust in the context of a fully piloted vehicle.