Universal Autonomous Vehicle Design for the Elderly: A cloud-based collaboration between designers and engineers

United Kingdom / United States

Project Overview

Tata Motors Design Studio and would like an integrated team of students from an engineering program (Olin College) and a design program (Coventry University) to develop an approach to this multi-national universal design problem.

OIL Outcomes

The OIL will benefit our students with knowledge and experience gained by working synchronously with an interdisciplinary team of engineering students in a cooperative and collaborative international environment.

The shared development of a vehicle designed to address real life issues and with support of a major automotive manufacturer will provide them with valuable insights into professional working practices.

They will be using Fusion 360 to facilitate the collaboration and document their process along the way to help others learn from their experience.

OIL Activities

Students are to undertake the following:
1. Develop an autonomous vehicle fulfilling universal design needs of an aging population by applying advanced engineering and human centered product design
2. Capture and develop workflows along the way, demonstrating radical collaboration between engineers and designers as a result of using Autodesk’s cloud based design, development and manufacturing tools.

To achieve these objectives, the team is expected to develop a deep understanding (and documentation) of older adults as future users of autonomous vehicles and proposals for how autonomy can be used effectively in their lives. The final deliverables will be a shareable, highly visual prototype and demonstration, along with documentation of the student experience and process of working as a distributed, interdisciplinary team.

Type of interaction: collaborative design, document building, peer-review, research, critical reflection