" Education is all about how we can change ourselves, it's not about getting degrees. "
Ankit R. Patel
One of the few researcher in the world who have been collaborating with MIT (1st in Technology) and Royal College of Art (1st in Design)
नमस्ते, Let's Talk!
16th International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications
(AutomotiveUI)
September 22-25, 2024
Stanford, CA, USA
Steering UX Education: Designing an Automotive UX Course
September 22, 2024
In-car interfaces are the primary medium for communication between the occupants and the increasingly agentic vehicle systems. Although many universities teach automotive user experience and design courses, there is no consensus on what topics to cover. Some schools may choose to focus on the interior design of the cabin, including, but not limited to, physical controls and ergonomics, while other schools may just focus on the usability of what is shown to the driver and passengers. Participants in our workshop will discuss various topics for teaching Automotive UX and UI at both undergraduate and graduate levels, participating in interactive activities such as panels, breakout discussions, and syllabus design. Participants will then combine and form their findings into a course outline based on themes (ex., UI, Human Factors, etc.). This workshop is expected to achieve general consensus on a Automotive UX curriculum drawing from diverse stakeholders, including academia, industry, and government.
The aim of this workshop is to open up a discussion amongst scholars and practitioners in the automotive sector about the following modules, among others:
Module 1 - The first step is to identify the audience and goals of an introductory course on automotive UX. This module will define the learning objectives, target audiences, and their needs. This section will start with a panel discussion led by current educators and automotive UX practitioners followed by a brainstorming session. The output would be a list of target audiences, learning objectives, and themes that could fall under the umbrella of Automotive UX (e.g., UI, Human Factors, Graphics, etc.).
Module 2 - The second step is to gain consensus on evaluating students learning and on the topics to be covered in a course. Participants will be assigned to small discussion groups based on themes that were identified in Module 1. While in these groups, participants will be asked to brainstorm topics on one stack of Post-it notes and a separate stack of Post-It notes. Participants will be asked to write an assignment or evaluation activity that students would complete in class or as a project assignment and create an affinity diagram on the wall. The output from the affinity diagram would be a list of topics paired with evaluation methods that are put in order. Ultimately, this order of student learning objectives, topics and evaluation methods would create a number of different class ideas.
MODULE : I
START TIME
9:00 AM
9:15 AM
10:00 AM
10:45 AM
MODULE : II
11:15 AM
11:30 AM
12:30 PM
ACTIVITY
Introduction, Schedule, Problem Statement and Scope
Panel Discussion
Small Group Brainstorm on Themes & Learning Objectives
BREAK
Recap of Themes & Learning Objectives and Assignment to Group Tables
Small Group Brainstorm & Affinity Diagram Mapping
Summarize the Affinity Diagram and Discuss the Next Steps
PRESENTER
James Rampton
Irene Lopatovska, Nikolas Martelaro, David Sirkin, James Rampton
James Rampton
Irene Lopatovska
Pratt Institute, New York, NY, USA
Bio:
Niklas Martelaro
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Bio:
David Sirkin
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Bio:
James Rampton
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Bio:
James Rampton
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
James Rampton is a Lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI). For the past year, he has taught automotive user experience design courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Student Life office selected him as an “Honored Instructor” in his first year. Before joining UMSI in the fall of 2024 he worked at General Motors as a Lead Product Designer for five and a half years. At GM, he redesigned the entire messaging framework and vehicle information app. His work can be seen in vehicles like the Cadillac Lyriq and the Chevrolet Blazer EV, which both won the Wards 10 Best Interior and User Experience Design award. He also worked on the next-generation framework for Model Year 2027 and beyond.
Lionel P. Robert Jr.
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Lionel P. Robert Jr. is a Professor of Information and Robotics at the University of Michigan. He is an ACM Distinguished Member, an AIS Distinguished Member “Cum Laude”, and an IEEE and INFORMS Senior Member. He is the director of the Michigan Autonomous Vehicle Research Intergroup Collaboration (MAVRIC) and an affiliate of the National Center for Institutional Diversity. His research has been sponsored by AAA, Automotive Research Center/U.S. Army, Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Toyota Research Institute, MCity, and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Robert has also appeared in print, radio, & television for ABC, CNN, CBS, CNBC, Michigan Radio, Inc., Fast Company, New York Times, and the Associated Press.
Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon is a Professor in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Computer Science (by courtesy) at Virginia Tech. His Mind Music Machine Lab focuses on emotion and sound research in the context of automotive user experiences, assistive robotics, and arts in extended reality. He edited a book, “User Experience Design in the Era of Automated Driving”. He hosted AutoUI 2022 as a General co-chair and has been serving as a steering committee member of the AutoUI community. He has co-hosted several workshops at AutoUI including the DEI workshop series.
Manhua Wang
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
Manhua Wang is a PhD candidate in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. She received her M.S. in Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research aims to enhance the human-technology partnership, focusing on understanding and addressing human information needs in the context of intelligent transportation systems and future workplaces. She has served on the organizing committee of the AutoUI community since 2022.
Gayoung Ban
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
Gayoung Ban is a PhD student at Virginia Tech in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. She received her M.E. in Industrial Engineering from Seoul National University. Her research primarily focuses on studying human distraction within intelligent transportation systems. It aims to improve human-machine collaboration by identifying and addressing the specific information needs of operators, enhancing safety and efficiency in future transportation environments. She holds leadership positions in the Women's Transportation Seminar International at Virginia Tech and as a communicator for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's Surface Transportation Technical Group (STTG).
Ankit R. Patel
University of Minho
Guimaraes, Portugal
Ankit R. Patel is currently associated with the University of Minho, Portugal. He served in various positions at international conferences, like paper chair for the IEEE/ASME JRC 2025; track chair for the IEEE ITEC 2023, 2024; track co-chairs for the IEEE AFRICON; associate editor for the IFAC CTS 2024; associate chair for the ACM GROUP 2025; global ambassador for the ACM CHI 2024; diversity inclusion and accessibility chair for the ACM COMPASS 2024 and AutomotiveUI 2023; associate chair for the ACM IMX 2023, 2024; associate chair for the ACM AutomotiveUI 2024 and MuC 2024. He also serves as a lead editor for the special issue in the Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces; an associate editor for the EAI Endorsed Transactions on Smart Cities and Journal of Social Economic Research; and an editorial board member in the Journal of Sustainable Urban Mobility and Transportation Development Research. He received the best poster paper award at the 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Macau. He also serves as a reviewer in many journals, including Transport; Journal of Transport and Health; and Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. He reviewed many conferences, including CHI, IMX, AutomotiveUI, MuC, ITS America, OzCHI, INTERACT, TRB, and NordiCHI, among others. His research interests lie in the fields of human factors and interactions, sustainable transportation, travel behavior and psychology, and socially inclusive transportation.
Dave B. Miller
Tufts University
Medford, MA, USA
Dave B. Miller is an assistant teaching professor in the Human Factors Engineering program at Tufts University, in the department of Mechanical Engineering. His teaching is currently focused on interface design, research methods, industrial ergonomics, interaction with automated systems, and engineering ethics. He is also director of the SHOULD Lab, supervising research into trust in automation, human-technology conflict, and instructional design.
Location
Stanford University, Stanford, USA
Contact
If you need help or more details about this workshop, please contact:
Ankit R. Patel at majorankit@gmail.com
