by Julian Schwazer -

Extended Reality in the Automotive Industry | part 3

Additional XR use cases in the automotive industry

But Extended Reality technologies are not only improving the customer experience, they are also able to improve different processes for the automaker throughout the whole value chain.

source: https://softengi.com/blog/automotive-industry-xr-at-the-forefront/

Design and Visual Prototyping

The design and development process in the automotive industry is continuously getting more expensive and also more time-consuming. VR-powered prototyping solutions enable the automakers to simulate different model variants and allow them to get a better view 

of all systems and detect errors early in the process. This process also helps OEMs to reduce costs and accelerate development.

Although VR already offers a lot of possibilities, some automakers are still preferring real-life models of their cars to be able to see the different shapes, shadows and size-ratios better. Real model cars can also be used for visualizing different colors and models, by mapping digital projections onto the car.

Automakers like Mercedes and Volkswagen have already started using AR technology during the design and testing phase. Augmented Reality is also a lot better with visualizing proportions and sizes of different design and color variants of the vehicle

prototypes to better visualize the different proportions and sizes. Augmented Reality will also be used more and more during this process in the future.

Immersive Showrooms and Sales Experiences

If you are buying a car, you normally have to visit a car dealership. In the digital era, especially during the worldwide pandemic, customers do not need to visit the dealerships anymore. But with the development of immersive showrooms, they might want to do that anyway. VR-powered showrooms enable everybody to get a better feeling for their dream car. By using a VR headset, customers can see their future car in a 3D environment and browse through all the colors and additional equipment. By sitting on the right chair they could even take a virtual test drive. But this technology is not only great for customers, car dealerships can show their customers every variant of the model without the need of purchasing multiple cars for the showroom.

Training

XR applications can also help the employees to understand their working environment better and help them become more productive. Immersive technologies can also provide training for specific skills like welding and help them with avoiding dangerous situations at the production line. These training methods are also especially useful when the workers have to start building newly developed car models.

The same and additional training could also be relevant to employees in the after-sales and maintenance process. With future cars becoming more complex, car mechanics will also need different skills to repair these cars. AR training can help them with finding specific problems and solving them faster. Volkswagen already created a system called Marta for their VW XL 1 and Porsche launched the AR-powered Tech Live Look in 2017 and planned on distributing them to every dealership.

AR for Marketing and CGI

Augmented Reality is also used for creating images and videos for marketing purposes and showing the new models to the world. In the following video, Stephen Gray explains how General Motors is using AR for this purpose. (1:45 to 3:35)

Resources

https://www.bvdw.org/fileadmin/bvdw/upload/studien/AR_and_VR_in_Automotive_Presentation_Accenture_and_BVDW.pdf

https://www.allerin.com/blog/4-applications-of-ar-in-the-automotive-industry

https://blog.datamatics.com/9-ar-vr-use-cases-breaking-new-grounds-for-automotive-industry

https://techsee.me/blog/ar-automotive-technology/

https://www.toptal.com/virtual-reality/virtual-reality-in-the-automotive-industry

https://arvrjourney.com/developments-of-ar-that-will-change-the-automotive-industry-6021cb9c58a6

https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2020/june/ar-vr

https://plat4m.com/future-of-ar-in-cars/?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ar

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/08/26/are-you-ready-for-augmented-reality-in-your-car/?sh=620a4f143144

https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2020/june/ar-vr

2021 Mercedes S-Class Will Feature AR Navigation And 3D Eye-Tracking
How Augmented Reality Will Change Driving and Car Manufacturing
5 Applications of AR & VR in Automotive and Adoption Challenges
6 AR Applications in the Car Industry
Extended Reality Automotive: XR at the Forefront
by Tina Schart -

“My life with face blindness”

One of the most important parts of doing research is hearing the side of the people who have the condition. Below are three stories of people with prosopagnosia.

Story from Walter:
“One day […], I saw my brother-in-law from a distance talking with what I thought a little girl. When I got closer, I realized it was my own wife, seriously. Now that is when I realized there was something wrong with me and started checking if there was any online information available. When I found out I suffered from prosopagnosia, it changed my life for the worst because I actually realized that I was greeting people that I thought I recognized and stopped greeting people and avoiding places where I could run into people. I prefer to stay home, instead of going out. […] I don’t have any problem recognizing faces of celebrities and am very good at understanding movie plots. I am really good at remembering locations and always remember how to return from point A to B. I have an excellent short-term memory, yet a bad long-term memory. […].“

Story from Darla:
“[…] I took the facial recognition test and realized for the first time that I can’t do something that everyone else can. I was flabbergasted. Over the next several months, memories came flooding back and now they all made sense, all the times I was confused. When I couldn’t find my daughter who was standing literally right beside me. Embarrassing moments in the office when I’m sure I looked like an idiot… all made complete sense. I realized lots of little tricks that I use to recognize when out and about, as I pass people, I look every single person in the eye. I’ve found if you know someone, their face changes – like they brighten up and smile or something. If you don’t know them, they just walk on by. Sometimes it’s tricky, though. They smile just cause they’re friendly and then you get into a conversation with someone, racking your brain trying to figure out who they are, and turns out you don’t. […] And many friends have started saying their name when we get together, which is awesome. But it’s a little annoying when I try to explain it to someone new. 95 percent of the time, they respond by telling me they’re name-blind. Oh, haha, yeah, that’s funny. When I tell them I don’t recognize my own children, they don’t laugh as much. […].”

Story from susieflooze:
„I’ve had faceblindness all my life, and it’s a horrible struggle. No one can understand what it’s like when I start to realize the person I’m talking to isn’t whom I think. Suddenly, it feels like the ground under my feet is turning to quicksand as bystanders begin to edge away from me as if I’m insane. It’s impossible to make friends and keep track of them – there’s always the risk of me seemingly snubbing them, and that’s created pain in the past even when the person knew of my condition. They suspect that I must be faking, because how hard is it to simply recognize people?! I can’t help it, and seeing the hurt twinge in their eyes when I introduce myself to people I’ve known for 20 years is like a knife in my guts. I feel sick over it, but I can’t do anything about – all I can do is limit my contacts with people, which is killing me. I live alone and have no one to translate who’s who in my life, and it’s made me a recluse. Even curling up with video is no comfort, because the actors I could recognize have died off or retired, and now I can’t even follow the plot of contemporary movies. I want so badly to connect to the world… but I know all too well it ain’t gonna happen for me. Death will be my only release from this trap. So feel lucky, pilgrim. You have no freakin’ idea how bad this loonytunes brainfart can be.“

Sources

  1. Prosopagnosics Share Their Stories, o.A. (Summer 2019), Face to Face, https://www.faceblind.org/assets/files/newsletters/Face%20to%20Face%20Newsletter%20-%20Summer%202019.pdf
  2. My Life With Face Blindness, susieflooze (2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/08/21/feature/my-life-with-face-blindness/
by Güney Güner -

User Journey (9)

With the interviews and personas in hand it is time to dive deep on user journeys. In this case the journey of senior citizens when it comes to interface interactions.

While younger generations often integrate technology seamlessly into their lives (they’ve grown up using it, so it’s a natural extension of their day-to-day activities), older adults use technology a bit differently.

Applications that aren’t useful are generally neglected by seniors. Even with notifications, if an older adult doesn’t find an application to be useful, they’re likely to ignore it for days, weeks, or even months.

However, if they see the benefits of using an app or website, they’ll be motivated to use it regularly and to respond to notifications. While gamification and similar motivators work well with younger adults, they are often not as effective on seniors. Instead, making sure an app is useful and easy to use is the best way to ensure that the app will be used by them consistently.

Senior citizens tend to prefer tablets to phones because of the difference in screen size and ease of use. According to a research the older adults hold a high share in tablet sales.

Help is a big part of this user journey. Compared to other age groups seniors need much more help with a new interaction when they are learning it or throughout the whole experience. The usage of tutorials or help sections in an interface plays a big role in this case. Also co-usage of an interface is a lot more common. Meaning seniors rely more on their younger relatives or friends when it comes to learning or adapting an interaction.

by Valentina Riedisser -

(Ein bisschen) User Research

Ich habe die Follower meines – ebenfalls sehr wenig aktiven – Zweitaccounts über Instagram Stories ein paar Fragen gestellt.

Warum über den Zweitaccount? Damit ich mehrere Personen erreichen kann: Der Account hat ca. 415 Follower, davon haben sich bis zu 192 Personen die Story mit den Fragen angesehen, darauf reagiert haben ca. 50. Das ist eine ungefähre Conversion Rate von 26%. Laut mehreren Internetquellen eine gar nicht so schlechte.

Ebenfalls sind die meisten Follower auf meinem noch nicht aktiven Design-Accounts Bekannte & Freunde, die mir auch schon auf meinem privaten Account (Zweitaccount) folgen. Ich hätte damit also so gut wie die gleichen Personen erreicht, nur weniger von ihnen. Deshalb fiel meine Entscheidung so aus. Follower-Anzahl Designaccount (Stand 15.04.2021, 8:30): 109 Follower.

80% folgen kreativen Instagram Profilen, wie Designern, Illustratoren, aber auch Interior Designern und vielen anderen.

Danach habe ich einfach eine Vermutung angestellt – wahrscheinlich nicht die beste Entscheidung, jetzt im Nachhinein betrachtet – und gefragt, warum die Personen denn diesen Accounts folgen. Ist es wegen der ansprechenden Optik oder weil sie etwas dazulernen wollen? Das waren für mich meine persönlichen zwei Hauptkriterien.

Um die vorige Frage etwas auszuweiten, habe ich dann nochmals nachgefragt, ob es noch andere Gründe für das Verfolgen dieser Accounts gibt.

Die häufigsten Antworten waren: 1. Inspirationen sammeln, 2. Bekannte oder Freunde, die man unterstützen möchte, 3. um die Entwicklung einer Person/ eines Accounts verfolgen zu können

Zum Schluss habe ich darum gebeten, mir einen oder mehrere ihrer Lieblingsaccounts zu nennen. Hier haben leider nurmehr 9 Personen geantwortet, dafür war eine sehr große Bandbreite an verschiedenen kreativen Richtungen repräsentiert und mir wurden sehr viele Accounts genannt.

by Tina Schart -

Diagnosing prosopagnosia

Many people who have problems recognizing faces do not know that they suffer from prosopagnosia. There is still a rather limited understanding of this condition among both the general population and the scientific community. However, if a person does not recognize faces well, he or she is usually referred to a neuropsychologist or a researcher. The person is then subjected to some tests and has to answer personal questions on the subject.

Examples of such tests to help diagnose prosopagnosia are:

  • Recognizing famous faces
  • Recognizing differences or similarities between two faces
  • Learning faces and recognizing them later
  • Recognizing emotion, age and gender

Questions that will be asked are:

  • Please describe some incidents in which you have been unable to recognize other people.
  • How do you typically recognize others?
  • when did you realise that you might have face recognition problems?
  • Have you ever experienced brain damage, brain surgery, head trauma, amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus, cataracts early in life, severe untreated myopia, or other serious visual problems?
  • Do you believe that you have any other face processing difficulties such as reading facial expressions, eye gaze, sex, age, or attractiveness from the face?
  • do you believe that you have trouble recognising non-facial objects such as cars, animals, or places?
  • do you believe that your navigational abilities are poor compared to others?
  • do you think that any of your family members share your difficulties with faces or have other neurological problems?
  • do you think that you have any other neurological problems? 

Sources

  1. face recognition information questions, Brad Duchaine (04.2021), https://www.faceblind.org/research/
  2. Prosopagnosia (face blindness), o.A. (01.05.2019), https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/face-blindness/
by Julian Schwazer -

Extended Reality in the Automotive Industry | part 2

Extended Reality is one of the emerging technologies that is currently disrupting the automotive industry. Automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are already using XR for creating the cars of tomorrow. These technologies can’t only improve the performance in research and development, manufacturing, sales and aftersales, they are also enhancing the connected car ecosystem and therefore also the in-vehicle experience.

The XR In-Vehicle Experience

Extended Reality features are already available in some cars but currently limited to Augmented Reality applications. Virtual Reality technology may also be available in the future but because autonomous driving is not available yet and there are still some technological and regulatory issues to solve it’s not relevant at the moment.

Head-up Displays (HUD)

The main advantage of head-up displays in current cars is that drivers get crucial information displayed directly in their field of view. Although simple HUDs were already introduced in commercial aviation back in the 70s and in the first cars in the late 80s, they are just getting more popular now.

Augmented Reality technology is also improving the in-vehicle safety because the drivers can keep their eyes on the road. The stereoscopic images used in HUDs can even adjust to the viewing angle of the driver. Looking down on the instrument cluster or head-down display will become more and more obsolete in the future and increase safety on the roads. But modern AR-powered head-up displays are also able to warn the driver of potential hazards along the way.

Features of modern HUDs

Even though most of the manufacturers are already offering heads-up displays in some models, there is still a lot of unused potentials. Common HUDs are already able to display speed, speed limits, additional road signs, gas levels or battery percentage, but some have more features. There are even some aftermarket head-up displays available that allow you to get these features in older cars.

Directions

Most manufacturers are already able to give their drivers simple turn-by-turn navigation information directly in their field of view. Mercedes for example has already started integrating AR-powered navigation systems with the new A-Class, but the new 2021 S-Class will take it a step further. The new MBUX in the S-Class is able to project navigation information directly on the street and show the drivers exactly where they have to make a turn. The Swiss startup WayRay has also revealed a Holographic Augmented Reality Navigation System with similar functionality together with Hyundai at CES 2019.

source: https://vrscout.com/news/mercedes-s-class-ar-navigation-3d-eye-tracking/

Awareness

Modern HUDs are also able to help the drivers with awareness and warn them of additional hazards like pedestrians, cyclists or other cars. This feature is especially useful for blind spots in cities, larger intersections and during the night.

source: https://taas.news/article/109060/Panasonic_develops_Driverless_Automated_Valet_Parking_system_and_a_large_screen_AR-HUD_

Points of Interest (POI)

Some heads-up displays are also able to help the drivers with different points of interest like restaurants, parking spots or gas stations. In the future, they will also be able to show the drivers parking spots that are big enough for the car to fit in with additional information about hourly rates or parking limitations.

source: https://plat4m.medium.com/the-future-of-augmented-reality-ar-in-cars-788933212aa9

Notifications

In the future, HUDs will also be able to display messages or calls from our smartphones directly in the field of view. This feature will not only be much more convenient, it will also stop us from looking at our phones and therefore increase safety on the road. These notifications could also include important information about a traffic jam or accident on our route directly from the manufacturer.

source: https://plat4m.medium.com/the-future-of-augmented-reality-ar-in-cars-788933212aa9

Additional XR In-Vehicle Features

AR-powered owner’s manuals

Besides the head-up displays, some automakers are also providing AR-powered owner’s manual apps to provide more detailed information on the functionality of the car. This feature was already available as “Ask Mercedes” in the 2018 S-Class and will also come to future Hyundai and KIA cars.

source: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a20262580/mercedes-benz-adds-augmented-reality-owners-manual-to-2018-s-class/

AR-powered assisted views

In the future, there will also be AR-powered mirrors that allow the drivers to have an unobstructed view of what’s behind them and help with avoiding not seeing a car in the blind spot. A similar feature is already used in some bigger pickup trucks and SUVs from GMC, Chevrolet and Land Rover. These pickup trucks are regularly used for towing bigger trailers and offer their drivers additional camera views and the possibility to connect different cameras from the back of the trailer to the car’s infotainment system.

source: https://gearjunkie.com/motors/gmc-transparent-trailer-view

Land Rover also pioneered a similar function for the front of the new Evoque and Defender. The “ClearSight Ground View” makes the front disappear and is especially useful for steep terrain.

Jaguar even went a step further and tried to augment the pillars in the car with OLED monitors and cameras. But this feature is not yet available because foldable OLED screens are not ready for the automotive industry yet.

source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2874421/End-blind-spot-Jaguar-car-gives-drivers-360-vision-thanks-cameras-make-window-pillars-transparent.html
by Katsiaryna Palishchuk -

Are people influence changes or changes influence people?

We are discussing changes in every article. We already got it — everything is changing. Redesign — side effect of changes. And if one part is changing, then the chain of changes starts.

What influence what? Are people influence changes or changes influence people?

Developing web-page, good to remember — people will not like changes immediately, they need time to accept it. Doesn’t matter if it is new design, new icon color or new effective tool to use. We need time.

Who tells the timing? When companies understood, that it is time to change the icon color? Who tells, that this color is not reliable or modern now? With technologies it is the flow, right? Creating one technology, we are preventing old problems, but questioning the new ones. 

Speaking about icon or font color, web-page or app, people are providing changes. Artist, art director of big company influence smaller through people’s review. Smaller wants to imitate bigger. We are following trends, fashion, that one person create and couple of others support. In total, one person brings the idea,  but change itself — widespread it. 

Following the thought, why we deciding to widespread the idea of one person, we don’t even know? Because brand stays in foreground of this person? Or we just like changes? They give us the filling of movement? That we live our life? That it is not boring and we actually have a flow?

And more people widespread the idea, the more mainstream it appears to be, the more we like it. Herd instinct? Fear of being different from the crowd? Doesn’t we want to be unique? Or at least the best? 

I suppose, that changes influence people, we don’t pay attention on it, in most of the times. But they do, slightly. At the same time, from the other side of straight line is people opinion. I mean, people give feedback to the technologies, changes and new inventions. If those feedback processed in a right way, and it usually does, then listening to it, new technologies are invented. But not in the way people suppose they want it, but in the way they need it. 

Do we know what we need? We think so. But we don’t really know how to define our thoughts. They are different from what we need. Different design experiments have shown that people do not really know what they are talking about. Do you remember implementation of new Instagram app icon? People were so shocked, they tell it ugly, non-modern and, of course, previous one was much better! In a week they change their opinion. Same with Mail group. They slightly change the icon color twice. First time to the lighter blue. And in couple of years to the neon-blue. People were hating both colors. Why?

Why is bad question. Or wrong. It kinda should give the wider idea about things, but it stands us us in front of the new questions, we have no idea about. Cave with no bottom.


Someone from famous people said, that the only unchangeable thing in this world — changes. The world around us changes radically, our life is changing, we are changing, and, unknown what comes first. Either changes occur in us, and exactly they are the reason for new plot for our lives.  Either our lives, developing in certain rules, force us to change.

by Carina Steindl -

Comparative Analysis of fake and proper Fact-Checking Sites #P3

In the third blog entry of this series fake-news websites will be shown to be compared later on. After doing some research, I found a list of websites, who spread fake or misleading news on wikipedia. Most of them were already taken down by the authorities, but some of them still exist and others are just there to redirect you to another weird news or advertisement website. Here is an overview of some of those pages:

70 News.

https://goi70.com/news

The first thing I want to mention about these websites is that there is not only false or misleading information on there. Most of the stories published are true to some extent, but every once in a while you will find misleading content on there. 70 News, for example, published a false news story, stating that Donald Trump had won the popular vote in the 2016 United States presidential election; the fake story rose to the top in searches for “final election results” on Google News.

Before It’s News.

https://beforeitsnews.com/

This site claims to be a people-powered news site, which published news way before the mainstream media does, but a lot of the content is misleading or completely bogus information. Before It’s News and InfoWars were described as “unabashedly unhinged ‘news’ sites” in 2014 by The Washington Post following its promotion of conspiracy theories relating to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

InfoWars.

https://www.infowars.com/

So it does not take long to figure out what this site tries to achieve with the way they present their content. InfoWars is an American far-right, conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.

Fake Bild.de

https://www.news-bitcoin.club/news/index-code.php?lpkey=16ac17bf975b08a028&uclick=x9ejhqkt&uclickhash=x9ejhqkt-x9ejhqkt-gxfe-0-3z0-u3kt-hoa9-ef5864

The picture shown above is also a real common way of hoax and false news spreaders (this time in germany). It is really hard to distinguish between the real and the fake news site. This is called mimicing, where they take a real trustworthy website and just recreate the design under another domain. Most of the time you will not get this site in a google result. To get there you enter another seemingly normal news site and get redirected to a certain domain. Here is a picture of the real Bild.de website to make it more clear:

https://www.bild.de/

Daily Buzz Live.

http://dailybuzzlive.com/

This website is dedicated to bringing bizarre stories for the sole purpose of getting traffic to its website. They work with PopUps, as you can see in the picture and these kind of sites create mostly bogus stories and claims. To be fair, if you have some experience with the world wide wed, you will not take this website seriously.

Global Research.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/

Last but not least, this is the most dangerous form of false information websites, because it mimics other fact-checking sites and creates a common disbelieve in every website there is. Wikipedia states: “Principal website of the Centre for Research on Globalization, which The Economist in April 2017 called “a hub for conspiracy theories and fake stories,” and NATO information warfare specialists in November 2017 linked to a concerted effort to undermine the credibility of mainstream Western media.” Despite this information the website is still online and still spreading misleading content through the world wide web.

So these are just a few examples of what is actually out there and everyday I find something new. This is not a new phenomenon, as I already explained in a prior post, but it is a massively growing industry and it is just there to manipulate people. Next up is a comparison of these pages with real fact-checking sites and how there are differences in their design language, usability and so on.

If you want to know more false information spreading sites, here is a link to a list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fake_news_websites