Human Centred Design of First and Last Mile Mobility Vehicles

Coventry University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Human centred design of first and last mile mobility vehicles Wasser, Joscha Award date: 2020 Awarding institution: Coventry University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of this thesis for personal non-commercial research or study • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder(s) • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 11. Oct. 2021 Human Centred Design of First and Last Mile Mobility Vehicles by 1,2,4 Joscha Wasser A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the University’s requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Supervisors: Andrew Parkes1, Cyriel Diels3, Michael Tovey1 and Anthony Baxendale2 1 The National Transport Design Centre, Swift Road, Coventry CV1 2TT, UK 2 HORIBA MIRA Ltd, Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 0TU, UK 3 Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, Kensington, London SW7 2EU, UK 4 Fraunhofer FKIE, Fraunhoferstraße 20, 53343 Wachtberg, Germany Content removed on data protection grounds 2 3 4 5 6 Content removed on data protection grounds 7 Content removed on data protection grounds 8 Content removed on data protection grounds 9 10 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Cyriel Diels for his support of my PhD, for his advice and for sharing his extensive knowledge. For the past four years his mentorship went beyond his academic responsibilities and grew into a friendship. His continuous guidance helped to shape the work into what it has become today. My sincere gratitude further extends to Prof. Andrew Parkes who kindly took on the role of my director of studies for the last nine months of the PhD. His input and guidance during that time helped to bring together the work and shape it into the final thesis. I would also like to thank the final member of my supervision team: Prof. Michael Tovey for his insightful comments throughout the process and the support in editing papers as well as the final thesis. My sincere gratitude also extends to Dr. Anthony Baxendale, who, through his role at HORIBA MIRA, was key to the creation of the PhD programme that provides invaluable access to experts and research facilities. His support opened many doors, helping the research to be shown to the highest managerial levels within the company and beyond. Always keen to give credit to his team, his management style is inspirational. And to my partner Emily, who has never grown tired of hearing about my work and who has continuously motivated me and given energy. Without her I could not have done this. Her unwavering determination to support all those around makes her a truly special person. Und schlieslich, ohne die unendliche Unterstützung von meinen Eltern Irmgard und Rudi und meiner Schwester Yasmine, die es seit Jahren mir ermöglichen meine Träume und Ambitionen zuverfolgen, hätte ich die letzten acht Jahre nicht gemeistert und dafür bin ich unendlich dankbar. Last but not least my friends, you have made this time in Coventry something special. 11 Research Sponsors This research was sponsored through a studentship by HORIBA MIRA, a world leader in automotive testing and engineering services and the Future Transport & Cities Institute at Coventry University. This sponsorship was vital to the success of this research and I am therefore thankful to all those who have created this studentship and supported it throughout the PhD. 12 Abstract Enabled through the advancement of vehicle automation, driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles are emerging through public trials around the world. However, due to the focus on the complex technology, the end users have not yet received sufficient attention. The user requirements in regards to the comfort and user experience in driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles subsequently remain relatively unknown. This thesis therefore investigated and evaluated passenger comfort and experience in the context of driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles through a novel design proposal and proposes design recommendations for such vehicles. The 1st chapter introduces the research topic and the context for the research work as well as detailing the overall aim and objectives for the thesis. In the 2nd chapter, a literature review is used to establish the state of the art for driverless vehicles with the focus on first and last mile mobility and the passenger comfort experience. Furthermore, likely scenarios, operators and passengers for such vehicles were also identified. This review demonstrated that the advancement in driverless vehicle technology has now reached a point that allows to critically investigate the potential benefits and issues with such vehicles. The 3rd chapter introduces the concept of iterative and user centred design as an overall approach for the research work and details the individual methods used. Along with traditional tools such as focus groups, surveys and observations an ergonomic buck was constructed to conduct user trials. Lastly, a new methodology was developed using the ergonomic buck as a basis for a fully immersive design experience and evaluation tool. Following on from the literature review, in the 4th chapter, a theoretical passenger comfort model for driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles was proposed. 13 Here eight factors were identified which influence the passenger comfort and wellbeing in driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles and ranked them based on the perceived importance. These were subsequently used to create a benchmark of current driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles in chapter 5. Using the aforementioned comfort model to evaluate ten existing driverless first and last mile mobility concepts further shortcomings in the areas of passenger comfort and usability as well as user perception were identified. The information gathered from the initial activities was then used in the 7th chapter to produce a design specification for a driverless first and last mile vehicle for a range of typical scenarios. A vehicle design concept which included the appearance, package and ergonomic features was then created in line with the specification and discussed in detail in chapter 8. For an initial evaluation, described in chapter 9, the exterior appearance and user acceptability of six vehicle designs, including the proposed design, was evaluated through questionnaires and focus groups. The results indicated that the proportions, colours and face of each vehicle have a significant impact on the perception of the vehicle behaviour and stability. In a second study, covered in chapter 10, the ergonomic aspects of the proposed vehicle concept such as the seat height and handrail placement were evaluated using a digital model with the PLM Siemens Jack software. This study highlighted initial issues with the seat height and depth as well as with the overhead handrail. A number of adjustments were undertaken to improve on the identified issues and continuously re-evaluated in the software. 14 Subsequently, an ergonomic buck was built, which is detailed in chapter 11, to undertake user tests, focussing on aspects of physical comfort, reach, visibility, and accessibility using a range of potential future users including elderly and visually impaired, discussed as a third study in chapter 12. These tests identified a number of requirements specific to those with visual and mobility impairments and supported further adjustments to the handrail placements and the shape of the seats. For the following evaluation stage, suitable software and hardware were evaluated, selected and then integrated into a mixed reality simulation, a research tool which is discussed in detail in chapter 13. The mixed reality simulator was subsequently used by a test population of users to evaluate further aspects of the vehicle, design features such as natural light influx, interior lights placement and materials. The seating arrangement was also re-evaluated along with the visibility from and into the vehicle and the results written up in chapter 14. Finally, the entire process, the overall evaluation of the design and of the approach used, were synthesised in the 15th chapter, in order to develop a list of suggestions outlining design features with the aim to enhance the passenger comfort and experience in driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles. In summary, this thesis investigated and evaluated passenger comfort and experience in driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles and proposed a novel vehicle concept for this type of vehicle. Lastly the thesis concludes with a set of design recommendations for driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles with the aim to improve the passenger comfort and experience in this vehicle type. 15 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................

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