The experience of using a car can be defined as a lot of things. How comfortable it is to drive in? Or just sit in? What entertainment features does the car have that can keep all passengers entertained for a car journey? Or even for the more extreme motor heads, how does the engine sound when going through a tunnel? All of these factors shape how a driver and the passengers would experience a car. However, when you take a step back, there is so much more to it. This project will be looking into the experience away from driving; the non-driving experience.

As part of a University Research Project set up between the Industrial Design Faculty at Technology University of Delft, and Ford Research and Innovation Center, this project will be going into detail about how data can be collected from wearables in order to enhance and improve the user’s non-driving experience of cars. More specifically, how can the approach and leave scenarios of using a car be improved through this use of data.

The initial stages of the project were focussed on understanding where the problem lies. What context is best suited and has clear pain points, or potential moments of surprise and delight, to the problem? This was done through a number of research tasks including literature research, interviews, and workshops with a large variety of potential users.

The context of using your wearables to improve the routine of family cars was chosen to go into further detail and exploration. Families often have different routines that happen simultaneously at times, and it was interesting how a family car can be so flexible in adjusting to each members routine. Data was looked at throughout this project in order to get an understanding as to how it can be used in a way to create a relationship between car and driver.

Throughout the development phase of the project, ‘Ford Experience’ came to fruition, which did exactly that. It used data from the wearables of both the main driver, as well as family members and other passengers, in order to adapt and respond to a number of different inputs from individuals. Throughout this day-to-day use, the vehicle works with the user in order to provide the best possible, and most efficient experience possible.