I set out to combat the negative impact of cars on the environment. This led me to exploring urban commuting pollution and combating it through cycling and other alternative means of transport. I chose to pursue the question of how can we encourage car free travel in cities? I started my research by becoming a cyclist myself. By doing this, I was able to make insights of my own as well as understand and empathize insights from others more deeply. This transition to a car-free future required behavior change. I sought to explore how this could be done in my research.
Through my research I realized that the main reason people didn’t cycle was due to safety concerns. I saw that navigating with a phone for directions while riding was a key point of stress. I focused on two aspects of safety, navigation and visibility. Navigation distracts riders' vision so this led me to a tactile solution in the form of vibrations. I also realized this needed to apply to other personal vehicles besides bicycles such as scooters and skateboards.
I started prototyping with an arduino to create a device that helped people navigate using vibrations and lit up to keep riders visible. This evolved into radio and bluetooth versions. I iterated through different typologies such as necklaces, belts, glasses, etc. I used those initial prototypes in interviews with various cyclists such as commuters, couriers, and non-cyclists to get feedback and discuss what would be most useful to them. They provided key insights that influenced the final design from the form factor, it’s features, and how the user would interact and use the product.
I used the feedback from interviews to create a list of key features. This helped me create a list of materials and design a circuit. I designed a custom circuit board and housing. The final concept enabled users to navigate through touch and signal to traffic with LEDs. I hope to continue developing the project in the future. The COVID-19 pandemic showed the need for a product like this as a shift towards personal transport is gaining popularity.
