eBike Design

This project was part of a course on the basics of design principles and how to utilize them effectively. We created an interface for a hypothetical eBike that features autonomous driving based on constraints set by the professors, including how far apart alerts could be and all the information needed. Our team created both a digital interface and a cardboard prototype to hold the interface. After interviewing potential users, we chose to focus on affordability and creating a product that would be accessible for students. Our design focused on using someone’s phone or existing device to display the interface and for most user interactions.

To start our design process, we first considered what would be important for a potential buyer and why they had not previously purchased an eBike. We conducted interviews and collected observational data about rental bikes to understand user behavior when using regular bikes around campus. An important aspect of the design was considering user needs and wants. Our team knew that anything that we created needed to be centered on what actual students need and would use. We created our first designs on paper to understand the limitations and possibilities. During the design, we conducted A/B testing to understand what worked and what still needed changing. We gave the participants as little background information as possible because we imagined the average user as having no background experience and possibly renting the bike.

The app attached to our bike was called RideWise. The app controls navigation, most alerts, and the autonomous driving functionality. The photos show what the navigation would look like with the autonomous driving both on and off. The app is designed for a phone, as students would already need and have a phone and it would help to keep production costs low on the bike itself. While the app features a lot of information, it was important to the team to keep it sleek and modern. We focused on creating an app that would be functional, not just something that would look nice to use.