Product Vision Video
Context
I co-led research and design for BUNI, a speculative autonomous ride service for people with mobility needs. My contributions included synthesizing research insights into design principles, creating low-fidelity prototypes, and shaping the narrative that positioned accessibility and trust as the foundation for adoption.
Role
User Research, Interaction Design, Prototyping
Year
Spring 2025
Length
8 weeks
Project Team
Project Brief
Most autonomous vehicle systems emphasize technical efficiency. BUNI asked a different question: how might autonomous mobility feel safe, human, and empowering for riders with mobility needs? Instead of relying only on compliance with accessibility standards, BUNI paired a driverless vehicle with a friendly AI companion to explore how trust, companionship, and independence could shape the rider experience.
Problem
Adoption of autonomous rides faces three barriers. Accessibility gaps often leave riders with disabilities navigating unclear instructions, confusing pickup processes, and limited personalization. The absence of a driver can create isolation, making rides feel cold or overwhelming. Distrust in AV technology remains widespread, with most Americans hesitant to use driverless rides despite potential benefits.
Through research, we saw that accessibility alone was insufficient. Technical compliance did not equal comfort. Riders needed a system that worked technically but also provided emotional reassurance. The design challenge became: how can autonomous rides be both accessible and emotionally supportive?
Insights
From observation and field research, I synthesized three insights that guided the design.
Trust and companionship are critical: a consistent AI presence can create reliability and warmth in the absence of a driver.
Multisensorial communication ensures inclusion: voice, visual, tactile, and AR channels let riders access information in the way that best suits them.
Accessibility must enable autonomy: independence should be embedded across every stage of the ride, reducing reliance on outside help and making the system genuinely empowering.
Solution
Our research showed that technical accessibility alone was not enough to make autonomous rides feel usable or safe. From observing Luisa’s Waymo trip and synthesizing broader findings, three principles emerged that shaped the design.
Trust and companionship were essential: riders needed a consistent presence to replace the reassurance usually provided by a driver.
Multisensorial communication was critical: voice, visual, tactile, and AR channels gave riders control over how they received information, ensuring no one was excluded.
Accessibility had to enable autonomy: independence needed to be built into every stage of the ride so riders felt supported without relying on external help.
Process
Research and Observation
To ground the work, we accompanied Luisa, a community member with variable mobility needs, on a Waymo ride. The experience was technically accessible but emotionally stressful: unclear instructions and the absence of a driver heightened disorientation. This ride-along became a turning point, showing us that accessibility standards alone could not guarantee comfort or trust.
Luisa, on her first Waymo ride
Physical BUNI button mockup
Collaboration and Prototyping
We worked closely with the BMW Designworks team, who joined us weekly for updates and hands-on prototyping sessions. They emphasized the value of our approach, describing it as the most engaging of the concepts presented because it felt lighthearted and human rather than purely technical.
To make the experience tangible, we staged “Wizard of Oz” prototypes. Using my phone, we had BMW team members call “BUNI” - in reality, a classmate in another room acting as the AI companion. The AI would onboard them, select an arrival song, and guide them through the ride. For the arrival moment, our classmate entered the room holding a mock up of a vehicle with bunny ears to embody the system’s character.
We also created a physical, bunny shaped button that participants pressed to “start” the ride. From there, we guided them through a sequence of prototyped screens that simulated the journey, including heads-up displays like navigation and status updates. At the end of the ride, their phones received a text message from “BUNI” with an automated service summary.
These roleplay driven prototypes captured both the functional and emotional dimensions of the ride, allowing us to test whether participants felt supported, reassured, and engaged.
Information Prioritization & Hierarchy Planning
A key design challenge was deciding what riders should encounter first. Safety confirmations and clear guidance had to appear immediately, while personalization and comfort features could surface later. Balancing these layers established a ride rhythm: functional reassurance first, emotional touches second. This hierarchy helped the experience feel both safe and human from the very first interaction.
Luisa, receiving ride confirmation text
Results
The final concept demonstrated how autonomous rides could move beyond compliance to become supportive, dignified, and trustworthy. The AI companion, multisensorial channels, and adaptive profiles worked together to reduce stress and empower riders.
In critiques and workshops, BUNI resonated because it grounded speculative technology in lived human needs. Reviewers noted that it offered a credible path toward adoption by reframing AV rides as relational experiences rather than technical transactions.
Screenshot of BUNI prototype showing AR screen with directions, BUNI's signature physical button, and screen overlay depicting conversation between user and BUNI's AI
Reflection
The most important lesson was that designing for autonomy is not just about what technology can do, but about how people experience it. For riders, independence comes from safety, clarity, and being understood: not just from a car that drives itself. This project reinforced that accessibility and dignity must be treated as design constraints, not add ons, and that emotional reassurance can be prototyped just as intentionally as interfaces. By centering trust and companionship in both principles and process, BUNI showed me how design can turn an intimidating technology into an experience that feels human and worth adopting.
