Reimagining the dashboard UI for RIVIAN

Introducing Rivian

Rivian is the newest kid on the block of electric vehicles. What sets Rivian apart from Tesla and other big boys in the electric vehicle field is that Rivian is designed for the great outdoors, built with environmental sustainability in mind and packaged for hardcore adventurers. Imagine Jeep meets Patagonia. Or Hummer meets North Face. You get the idea. A rugged truck or SUV designed with the outdoors enthusiast in mind.

The Challenge

Rivian was founded in 2009 by R.J. Scaringe, a MIT grad with a doctorate in mechanical engineering and a passion for the nature and sustainability. Prototyping for the vehicle began in 2017 and pre-orders for the R1T (truck) and R1S (SUV) were launched in 2020. The R1T and R1S are expected to hit the roads (and trails) in early 2021.

As of the time of this project (Aug-Nov 2020), Rivian vehicles are not yet in the market. There are barely any information or glimpses of how the dashboard UI would look like. I have undertaken this project with a huge vision and imagination and zero foreknowledge.

Why did I choose to work on Rivian, out of so many brands and products in the marketplace? First, electric vehicles are the future - the technology that is harnessed to equip and enable an electric vehicle is phenomenal and limitless, and this includes autonomous driving. Second, this is no ordinary electric vehicle - this is an electric vehicle designed with sustainability and integrity to the environment in mind, and crafted for the outdoor adventurer to keep exploring. Both of these reasons make a compelling case for Rivian and I want to play a part in designing a small fragment of a product I personally would like to own and drive.

Who is this UI designed for? What are their needs and wants? What are current electric vehicle drivers’ pain points? What would help enhance the pleasure of driving while emphasizing safety?

Joanna, 28, a rock climber and North Face ambassador. She is undergoing training at UC Davis to be a physical therapist.

Ben, male, 36, physician. Has a wife, no kids. Works 12 hour shifts 4 days a week. Avid runner.

Hernandez, male, 40, software engineer, hard core rock climber, climbs every weekend in Yosemite.

Abby, 32, is a wanderlust. A photographer, part time model and freelance graphic designer, her work takes her across cities and states, during which she’d hike, run trails and mountain bikes.

“I wish that car dashboards would embody a more personal/humane touch. After all, driving is an extension of everyday life.“

-Vin C, an interviewee from Nottingham, UK who drives an electric vehicle and is an endurance cyclist.

Feature Prioritization

Here is a list of primary features that Rivian offers:

Navigation: 3D maps, downloadable offline maps, maps searchable by categories, safety of environment, discover hidden trailheads, scenic byways

Range: location of superchargers is automatically displayed on the map; when navigating to a destination, the map shows how much charge will be left in the battery at the time when the destination is reached; the navigation app allows users to receive directions based on the use of the car-pool lanes

Off-road capabilities: dual or quad motor, wading, tank turn, climbing gradient

Media: auto playlist for driving, cycling, hiking, climbing

User Flow and UI Mockups

Writing the user interface text that facilitates user navigation, including on-boarding, instructional content, notifications, range alerts, and other components of the end-to-end user experience.

Developing clear user flows.

Designing a human-centered, intuitive and easy to navigate UI.

Approach

During the course of user research, developing user persona and stories, and designing the dashboard UI, two issues surfaced over and over:

1) How do we reduce “eyes off the road and on the screen”?

2) How do we eliminate range anxiety from our users who just want to have a good time on a weekend trip?

For issue no. 1, i.e. How to ensure driver safety, these factors are taken into account in the UI design process:

a) Vehicle controls should be easily accessible

b) Require minimum attention from drivers

c) Driving-related information should be displayed clearly and understandably

With these in mind, the solution is to design a UI which incorporates:

For issue no. 2, i.e. How do we make charging time fun, and productive?

Taking a leaf from Elon Musk, an eccentric, creative and fun product owner, he attempts to solve the “wait-while-charging” issue by incorporating classic Atari video games in its vehicle.

Th solution is for Rivian to fully engage, inform, educate and entertain its users with their interests, and in this case, it would be the love for the outdoors and nature. The UI would bring up categories of media including offline maps to “off-the-beaten-path” trails with scenic landscapes and views, reviews by hikers/cyclists/rock climbers, compile a music playlist for an hour run, hike, bike ride or climb… the possibilities are endless and exciting.

Constraints

How do I design a UI that features all the great capabilities of Rivian while keeping it minimalistic so as to reduce screen clutter, information overload and emphasize on one or two things that the driver needs to be focused on while driving?

The tendency is to over-feature so I chose the opposite approach, which is to eliminate as much as possible, and hide the features under expandable tiles and sub menus.

Conclusion

The thought-process behind the design of Rivian’s dashboard UI is a mind-boggling Herculean effort. At every step of the process, despite my most valiant and diligent research, I constantly feel that there is so much that could be done to make Rivian stand out even more than it already is to its users (including its fully-autonomous driving and incredible tank turn enabled by its patented quad motor) and to make each and every feature and screen impeccably human-centered with thoughtful design principles.