Re-defining car ownership

Personal Project

Thomas Den Bos

A City Businessman

Thomas is a 38 year old manager at a startup in Amsterdam. His office is located in Schiphol, a 20 minute drive from his house. Thomas just bought a house in the canals of Amsterdam and chooses not to buy a car as it is expensive and inconvenient.

Experience Goals

Thomas would like a service where he is able to remove the constraints of owning a car yet keep all of its benefits. The service should be more straightforward than traditional car rentals yet give the feeling that its his own car. He has the financial resources to pay for a better quality car that he actually likes to drive.

Task Goals

Thomas wants a transparent and clear service where he is able to book the same car (or another if he chooses) in only a few clicks of a button. Thomas doesn't want to go through all the paperwork traditional rental companies require. Thomas wants to feel like he owns a car without strings attached.

Pain Points

Limited parking and high costs makes owning a car an unreasonable choice in Amsterdam.

Thomas doesn't need a car everyday to go to work.

Fed up of all the paperwork required to complete when renting a car for the weekend.

When choosing to rent a car, Thomas rarely gets what he asks for.

€800-2000

Monthly average cost of car ownership in The Netherlands. (Most expensive in the world)

"RoadTrip is a ride sharing service for those wanting to remove the constraints of owning a car yet keep all of its benfits. The service provides seamless access to high quality cars for urban citizens."

RoadTrip

RE-DEFINING CAR OWNERSHIP

Login Page

RoadTrip carries a very minimal yet functional aesthetic. Using elements inspired from the iOS interface it is able to evoke a professional and trustworthy brand image.

New Booking - Main Page

When making a booking, the user is presented with this highly minimalistic page. This is to ensure clarity and ease of task.

Category Selection

The user has the option to select a wide variety of categories available for rent. Currently the user is annually subscribed for the ‘Executive’ category but has the option to expand their selection by purchasing a pass to have access to more apropriate vehicles.

Electric Category

The user clicks on a category to recieve more information regarding it. Clear pricing is presented and an array of available cars are also visable below. If a car brand is sponsoring a certain category it will be featured on this page.

New Booking - Completed

When all the information is entered RoadTrip will provide the user with an estimated price for the whole trip. The user will then accept or decline this proposal.

Bookings - Car Info

When an upcoming booking has been selected, the user is presented with up to date information regarding their assigned car. Highlighted features of the car are included and presented visually.

Bookings - Locate Car

When locating the booked car, the user is presented with the car's number plate and GPS location.

Bookings - Unlocking

RoadTrip takes advantage the smartphone's NFC capability to unlock the car in close proximity. This ensures a smooth transition between car drivers and removes the need to manually hold the car keys.

Bookings - Current Car

When driving the rented car, the app focuses on that individual car. The days available for rent is presented, allowing the user to add additional days at a cost. The user is presented with interactive buttons relating to his/her rental. Remote location, unlocking and accident reporting are within a couple of taps.

Profile

The profile page is very simple in design. It presents all the relevant information and allows the user to have full clarity and control of their account.

SOLVING PROBLEMS

USING COST INCENTIVES

Developing a ride sharing platform raises many questions on the overall experience. Questions regarding cleanliness, delivery and parking. To deal with this, I have taken the simple solution of incentivising these problems to the user. The user will be entitled to earning credit off their rental regarding. Here are some examples of this in place.

USER TESTING

WIREFRAMING + DESIGN ITERATION

With the initial research completed, wireframes were generated to realise the project idea. Many iterations of each wireframe was user tested and then evaluated on a range of individuals and sponsor users. With each cycle it was back to the drawing board to see how the interface could be improved for the best experience.

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