Wave
Design Project B1.2 - Wave
Creativity and Aesthetics, Technology and Realization, Business and Entrepreneurship, Professional skills
My first Industrial Design project focused on the transition from normal to autonomous driving in the ‘Smart and the City’ design group. With our cars becoming smarter by the day, it seems that our infrastructure is left behind. Therefore, our ‘unsmart’ traffic lights can still cause traffic jams which cause unnecessary fuel usage and emissions. Not really what smart mobility should look like.
Results
To tackle this problem, traffic lights should be connected to a central network, containing the information on when specific lights turn red and green. With this information, autonomous vehicles can anticipate on the light’s behavior and adapt their speed to spread the amount of traffic and arrive at the light when it is green. Since not all cars are autonomous yet, a heads up display was designed to also include human drivers in this system, making it more effective. By displaying whether users are driving in the ‘green zone’ or not, users can adjust their speed accordingly.
To visualize the functionality of the system on a small scale, we build a racetrack with traffic lights, where the cars would adjust their speed, based on the behavior of the lights.
Learnings
In this first design project, I underwent a serious growth in my professional skills, especially in terms of collaboration. After a quite inefficient start of the project, we reflected on our process and introduced a better structure, working with a clear planning, task division and way of communicating. Significantly increasing the efficiency of the project, it showed me that good group chemistry has a big impact on a project.
Working on the electronics, code, and physical parts in the Vertigo workshop I was able to apply and improve the skillset I gained during the courses, making me more confident in realizing my ideas. Being responsible for almost all visual work, ranging from posters to animations, I improved my visualization skills, which I regularly use throughout my projects to communicate ideas. Finally, I was heavily invested in doing the business analysis for this project, practicing and improving the skills I gained in the courses.
