MechanicAI
Role
UX/UI Designer
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Duration
August 2020 - November 2020
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Tools Used
Figma and Qualtrics,
Description
MechanicAI is an all in one app to help you know your car. We provide you with sensors to easily apply around your car. MechanicAI is powered by AI to predictively analyze data from the car and driving patterns in order to predict if something has started to go wrong before it causes a catastrophic failure.
By identifying which parts are likely to break and when, we can alert the driver to the exact problem and then provide them with an end-to-end solution through our mobile app to improve the repair experience--from placing a parts order, to scheduling with a mechanic, to payment.
Problem Statement
Your car breaks down unexpectedly and at an inconvenient time/place. During the repairs process, there are delays and you don’t have a car to use.
User Research
Our team began addressing this problem by conducting guerilla-style user research. We asked 10 people about their experience with cars breaking down or require maintenance, and we captured a wide demographic ranging from college students to parents. During the interview, we focus on the following questions:
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What did you do the last time your car broke down?
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Do you have any idea when you will need service on your car next?
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What were major pain points or bottlenecks with your experience the last time your car broke down and needed to be repaired?
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The results show that time and cost are essential to people that use cars very often. Thus, our team decided to focus on creating a streamline experience to save time and potentially cost for the user.
Personas
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Robert Davis
Casual User
Wants a cheap and quick solution to fix basic maintenance repairs
Robert Davis
Car Enthusiasts
Wants to optimize car's performance
Robert Davis
Commuter Mom
Wants to easily fix their car without having to understand cars
With our user research, we are able to generate personas that guide us into the following user story of Robert using MechanicAI:
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Robert is a long-time car owner. He knows his car very well, and how to maintain it on the surface level. However, one day during his commute to work, his car breaks down on the 110. He is frustrated because he has to get to work.
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Robert looks at his MECHANICAI profile and sees which component is not functioning properly. He clicks into the component and sees the estimated repair time and cost with a range of mechanics.
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Robert selects a service among the options and it calls directly to the mechanic to arrange an appointment to the selected service to repair the component. Then, Robert can simultaneously call a tow truck if needed to bring to the mechanic and an Uber. At the destination, Robert is now capable of resuming his daily task and able to go back to work.
Wireframe
Based on the user story, we began to experiment with the wireframe and how the alert system, mechanic selection, and the home page may look like.
This is the end-to-end mechanic experience for users. MechanicAI will alert the user when a component required repair, and it brings the user to a map of mechanic options. The user is able to book through the book and call an uber to arrive to the mechanic.
The home page of MechanicAI offers a comprehensive review on the vehicle, and it shortcuts to a map of mechanics near the user for quick repair.
Visual Value Proposition
The visual value proposition was created to help users understand the functions and features of MechanicAI. We focused on delivering the importance of offering an end-to-end auto shop experience, but we also offer features such as data analysis and alert system as seen in the boxes.
Prototype
Reflection
This product gave users an end-to-end auto shop experience and items required for maintaining cars based on the alert system. We think the product will do very well among users that don't how to maintain their car, so the AI will offer suggestions based on the model type and year. However, the UI lacks displaying simple car analytics for the users, and the general navigation among all the features of the product can be confusing. For future steps, the interface can be improved by more user-friendly in displaying car data and statistics. Fewer and clearer navigation options could be used for the home page to make features more accessible. In regards to the technology of the product, we need to go in-depth into the sensor and AI technology for cars.