Campus AVs, Earning Trust in Every Crossing
A smarter, safer, and more connected way of transportation
TIMELINE
January - May 2025
ROLE
UX Researcher & Designer
CLIENT
John Hopkins APL
Project Overview
By 2040, autonomous vehicles will be more common, but college campuses pose unique challenges with heavy pedestrian traffic and varying levels of road awareness. To ensure safe and seamless adoption, AV systems must build trust, safety, and efficiency into everyday campus transportation.
"How might we support perceptions of safety and decision-making of campus road users in an autonomous future?"
Approach
To tackle this project, we structured our work into three milestones: Discover, Define, and Design. Each phase builds upon the last, creating a well - informed and actionable vision for AVs on a college campus
Milestone 1:Discover
Gain a better understanding of AV's and how they are perceived today
Milestone 2: Define
Understand how pedestrians on a college campus interact with vehicles
Milestone 3: Design
Develop multiple design concepts of the perfect AV
Exploring the Current State of Autonomous Mobility and Human–Vehicle Relationships
In the research phase, we aimed to establish a strong understanding of autonomous vehicles and the interactions between pedestrians and other road users on a college campus environment
By synthesizing insights from our secondary research and conducting interviews with 15+ Purdue students and 10 subject-matter experts , we can identify key interaction challenges and make the necessary recommendations
Activities
Literature review
User Surveys
Interviews with 10 subject matter experts and 15+ Purdue students
Observations
Initial Resarch
We began research be analyzing various existing resources such articles, blogs, resarch papers, and social media as well as primary sources from subject matter experts from John Hopkins APL and Waymo
The goal is to gain a baseline understanding of the current state of AVs and to gain insights on people's experiences with AVs and their perceptions of AVs.
AVs Still Face Many Challenges
Navigating road obstacles like construction and dealing with human interference disrupts AV’s ability to operate safely, while unexpected behaviors, such as honking at night, raises public concerns.
Trust
There's a lot of distrust among the public regarding AVs, revolving around the safety and security of the AV, the level of automation in the AV, and the control of driving systems in the AV.
Trust is critical in AV adoption
Public Perception
AVs have not yet gained widespread acceptance as the public has a complex perception of autonomous vehicles, balancing curiosity and skepticism.
User Research
To understand how AVs can be safely integrated into a college campus, we must first discover current pedestrian interactions, perceptions, and general opinions about motor vehicles
To do so,we crafted a survey to gauge and access pedestrians’ and non-motorized vehicle riders’ interactions, perceptions, and general opinions of motorized vehicles on campus.
Key Insights
The Tendency to Disobey Traffic Signals
A little over a third (37.5%) of pedestrian respondents admitted to disobeying traffic signals. Half of pedestrian respondents admitted to crossing without the walk symb
Group Influence
Most pedestrians, when asked if they cross when others in front of them do, said yes, the rest said sometimes, and only one person said no.
Driver-Pedestrian Interactions
Minimal interaction occurs between drivers and pedestrians. Cold weather discourages gestures, with most pedestrians keeping their hands in their pockets.
Interviews
We were then able to validate findings from the user survey and connect theories from secondary research to real-world applications through user interviews
We conducted interviews with 6 Non-Automotive Vehicle Users from our survey participants, from a range of different non-automotive vehicle users.
Biker
Electric skateboarder
Longboarder
Onewheel Rider
Bus rider
Pedestrian
“I’m concerned about its capability to react, but inability to predict what a pedestrian can do. People driving a car are able to have better pattern recognition.”
“It's like seeing a car from the 50s. You’re curious on the outside but you're concerned about how long it can last.”
Participants expressed cautious skepticism toward AVs on campus, citing safety concerns, lack of trust in AV decision-making, and unpredictable pedestrian behavior. Successful integration will depend on AVs adapting to campus-specific challenges and building user trust through familiarity and safety-focused design.
Imagining the future of AVs and their integration into college campuses
We synthesized existing research to envision an ideal future-state autonomous vehicle and explored how it could be integrated into everyday campus life to support seamless AV adoption on college campuses.
Activities
Competitive Analysis
Sketching
Prototyping
Storyboarding
Competitive Analysis
Based on our research, we developed a series of rough sketches to explore potential directions with an emphasis on the following key areas:
• Distinctive Exterior Design
• Advanced Safety Technology
• User Centered Dashboard Display
• Enhanced External & Internal Communicative Features
Tesla
A leader in electric vehicles and autonomous driving, Tesla develops AI-driven Full Self-Driving software, improving through fleet data.
Li Auto
A Chinese automaker focused on extended-range EVs, integrating advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
Key Insights
LiDAR vs Cameras
A leader in electric vehicles and autonomous driving, Tesla develops AI-driven Full Self-Driving software, improving through fleet data.
AI Integration
Many companies utilize combined hardware and AI systems capable of managing complex and unpredictable driving scenarios by continuously learning and adapting in real time.
Examples include May Mobility's MPDM system and Li Auto's VLM system
Accessible Designs
Most companies implementing AVs favor SUV design forms. Implementing such models could help AVs reach a wider demographic, making AV transportation more accessible for disabled individuals.
Sketching
Based on our research, we developed a series of rough sketches to explore potential directions with an emphasis on the following key areas:
• Distinctive Exterior Design
• Advanced Safety Technology
• User Centered Dashboard Display
• Enhanced External & Internal Communicative Features
Prototypes
Finally, we can implement all of our research insights and visionary concepts to design a prototype of the ideal AV of the future.
Exterior
Wheelchair Ramp
SUV Size
360 Cameras + LiDar
Turquoise Lights
Front & Back Bumper Screen
Projected Crosswalks
Exterior Speakers
Interior
Flexible Seating
Folding/Extendable Tables
Windshield HUD
In-Vehicle Camera
Seat-Integrated Haptic Feedback
Interface
Hazard Pop-Ups
Driving Visualization Panel
GPS Navigation Display
Indicated AV Status
Temperature & Speed Control
Entertainment
Storyboarding
Building on our prototypes and sketches, we next explored how AVs would be integrated into a college campus environment. We created user journey maps across the stages of awareness, consideration, decision, and retention to understand where and how features of our AV prototype would be used. These journey maps then informed the creation of storyboards that illustrated the end-to-end user experience.
Example of a persona we created showing how faculty can use these AVs
Solution & Final Designs
After completing our research and multiple rounds of sketching, we identified a viable approach for integrating AVs into a college campus while maintaining trust and safety through a dedicated AV service for students, faculty, and staff.
Final Design
This prototype focuses on the physical and technical aspects of AV design as we think about what features and capabilities will be necessary for seamless integration into campus environments. It ensures that our vision for AVs aligns with the needs of real-world users.
Design Fiction Vignette
Using the personas created in storyboarding, we created a storybook that visualizes futuristic scenarios between a user and AV that brings attention to potential challenges in a narrative, vignette style with animated panels.
For our vignette, rather than focusing on a single persona, we chose to frame the vignette as a “Day in the Life” of the AV itself. This decision stems from the fact that our research uncovered a diverse range of user needs across multiple personas, including students, faculty, and visitors.
Limitations
Research
A major challenge of our research was the regional limitation, as our location has a significantly lower rate of autonomous vehicle adoption which made it difficult to find individuals with firsthand AV experience we could interview.
Testing
Because the designs were conceptual and not physically implemented, we were unable to test them in real-world environments, evaluate interactions with actual AV hardware, or observe authentic user behavior over time.
Exploratory Drawbacks
Because this project is exploratory in nature,and focuses on the state of technology in the future, the findings and deliverables our team created had to be based on predictions, speculations, and inferences based on our research. The deliverables we created are based on one of many possible autonomous futures, and are meant to detail the possibilities that can occur based on where AVs are today.
Next Steps
Continued Research
Expanding research on how campus environments, such as college towns versus dense urban campuses, influence road usage and driving behavior as well as exploring infrastructure adaptations that could better support autonomous vehicles, including AV-only roads and emerging concepts like solar-powered roadways.
Additionally, examine the realistic trajectory of vehicle autonomy, comparing fully autonomous systems with mixed levels of autonomy, while assessing the technical feasibility and real-world viability of our proposed designs
Policy Gaps
Broadening the legislative analysis to include autonomous vehicle policies across additional states, beyond the three initially studied. This includes examining how federal and state regulations intersect, conflict, or reinforce one another in shaping AV implementation. We also plan to explore the potential for a dedicated federal regulatory body to establish consistent standards for safety, infrastructure, and ethical oversight of autonomous vehicles.
Lessons Learned
Impacting The World
Arguably the biggest lesson for me us realizing that this work will shape the future.For the first time, I was part of something that felt bigger than me. I was helping create something that could change how we move, live, and connect.
It hit me: Solving AVs on a college campus isn't just about students , it's a blueprint for cities, hospitals, airports... everywhere.
And that realization? It changed the way I showed up every day.
The stakes were suddenly very real
The Smallest Details
As technology evolves, trust becomes essential. It's not the flashy demos or perfect test scores that earn it , it's the small, almost invisible decisions.
Like when an AV pauses two extra seconds at a busy crosswalk. Or slows down near a dorm, not because it has to, but because people often cross unpredictably.
No one programmed it to be cautious there , but it was. And people noticed.
That's how trust is built , quietly, in the margins.