Comma.ai Mobile Application Redesign Case Study
Product Background
Openpilot is an open-source, semi-automated driving system created by Comma.ai. The company developed an aftermarket system that allows users to install the device inside their vehicle to further improve the driver- assistance systems that came with the vehicle.
Problem Overview
The goal of this redesign is to increase the product’s usability and solve UX (User Experience) problems by
- Re-design a simple, intuitive, and functional mobile UI.
- Create a bug submission interface so users can report bugs within the mobile application.
The Solution
I spent 5 weeks researching, brainstorming, designing, and prototyping features to add to Commai.ai mobile application.
Understanding our users
During the first week, I brainstormed the methods of research and decided on conducting individual interviews and collecting survey data. The interview and survey structure looked like this:
1. Get to know the user
What are the user’s pain points?
2. Motivations behind using openpilot
Why do they use openpilot? How did you hear about it?
3. Analyzing user flow
Can you show me how you interact with the comma mobile application?
4. Mobile Application
What features do you like? What don’t you like?
User’s Painpoints
After hearing, feedback from the users I began analyzing data using Affinity Mapping.
Here are some quotes that I felt really defined user problems.
“I would love to be able to submit bug reports within the mobile application”
“ I want to be able to download video footages right on my phone”
After identifying the pain points I began sketching out the features that were highlighted from our affinity map.
Design: Concepts & Sketching
Lo-Fi Wireframes
After forming a clear idea about the features. I began to finalizing the edits and transition to designing a High-Fidelity Prototype.
Final Design
Comma.ai Mobile Application Redesign
Dashboard
- Vehicle battery voltage
- Fuel remaining
- Device temperature reading
- Recent trip summary
Driving Footages
- Recorded footages display from starting location point A to destination point B.
- Distance traveled.
- Drive duration.
Video Player Interface
- Allow users to download videos.
- Report bugs within the application.
- Driver cam and Map toggles sync with video footage.
- Video timeline display when Openpilot is activated (Green)
Bug reporting interface
- Allow users to trim video footage for submission
- Information is prefilled on the template based on the video selected, but users can edit the input field if they see any error.
User Taskflows
Reflection
As this is my first UX project, it has been a fun journey. During this time, I was able to gain experience in the whole UX design process including user research and understanding the different ways to conduct research in design.
This project helped me better understand the design process and how each of the steps connect. It was super motivating for me to increase my awareness of small design problems we face from day to day. I believe we shouldn’t be satisfied with the existing solutions without questioning them and trying to constantly improve them even if we fail many times during this process.
