Abstract

Many industries have been transformed by the provision of service solutions characterised by personalisation and customisation - most dramatically the development of the iPhone. Personalisation and customisation stand to make an impact on cars and mobility in comparable ways. The automobile industry has a major role to play in this change, with moves towards electric vehicles, auton-omous cars, and car sharing as a service. These developments are likely to bring disruptive changes to the business of car manufacturers as well as to drivers. However, in the automobile industry, both the user's preferences and demands and also safety issues need to be confronted since the frequent use of different makes and models of cars, implied by car sharing, entails several risks due to variations in car controls depending on the manufacturer. Two constituencies, in particular, are likely to experience even more difficulties than they already do at present, namely older people and those with capability variations. To overcome these challenges, and as a means to empower a wide car user base, the paper here presents a basic concept of an intelligent driver profiling system for cars: the sys-tem would enable various car characteristics to be tailored according to individual driver-dependent profiles. It is intended that wherever possible the system will personalise the characteristics of individual car components; where this is not possible, however, an initial customisation will be performed. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

The less glamorous aspects of a transportation system'­s infrastructure, such as signage, ticketing systems, and wayfinding elements, typically get little or no attention from creative professionals. Instead they are purchased directly from manufacturers as minimally customized off-the-shelf components. Paradoxically, these parts that go unconsidered and undesigned are what transit riders most directly interact with, and what most affects their experience of the transit system/product. This thesis focuses specifically on the Washington DC Metro Area Transportation Authority's (WMATA) Metrorail, aiming to reshape the entrance segment of this public transportation experience by increasing both appeal and accessibility. The design process began with primary and secondary design research, using observational and interactive methods to produce an informed picture of Metrorail users'­ current perspectives. A design strategy was then developed from the collective research findings, which led to a period of blue-sky ideation and finally the design of elegant and accessible mass transit entrance system components. Master of Science

Abstract

The Mobility4EU project created a vision for a user-centric and cross-modal European transport system in 2030 and an action plan to implement that vision. We used a combination of creative and analytical methods to come from problem identification to the action plan applying a user-centric methodology that included stakeholders in each step of the process. The Action Plan details measures that address technical topics but especially refer to societal aspects and issues for multi-stakeholder interaction, as e.g. policy, user acceptance, standardization, collaboration and the integration of the user perspective into the R&D&I process. The Action Plan adds to the other similar initiatives by providing recommendations on mainstreaming of universal design and user-centric design processes, synergies and collaboration potential between modes and the combination of transport of passengers and freight building on the quadruple helix model of collaboration between academia, users, industry and policy makers.