Patent for Volvo Cars' interior automation

Patent • UX Designer at Volvo Cars • Sweden 2019
My Role:

Ideation, Prototyping, Illustrating

Company:

Volvo Cars

Year:

2019

Team:

1 UX Designer, 2 Engineers

Time:

3 month

At Volvo Cars Design Studio in Göteborg, Sweden, I worked as a UX Designer on projects related to the next generation Volvo cars Platform. These projects were in the areas of HMI Design and UX / UI Design. I researched the problem and the impact of poor mirror adjustments by drivers. Together with an engineering team, I tried to eliminate the human factor by using components already present on the vehicle. Fortunately, the final solution resulted in a patent that made it to final registration. Therefore, I am a patent holder for a system that automatically adjusts the interior of a car by tracking the driver from a distance.

Read the Patent here!

The Problem

Volvo Cars' invention of the Blind Spot Information System in 2007 had a huge impact on lowering accidents in Volvo Cars by preventing impending crashes when changing lanes. However, a considerable number of accidents are still caused by poor mirror adjustment. Poor mirror adjustment is caused by either failing to adjust mirrors before starting to drive or adjusting mirrors while driving. It appears that mirror adjustment is something that is not getting enough attention, and cars are not assisting drivers in this procedure.

Sarah Brown @unsplash

The Solution

I came up with several solutions to this problem, including head position tracking and dynamic mirrors. However, due to technology that was not meant for this purpose, the majority of the ideas I had and prototyped failed. With the examination of what is the safest position for mirrors and seats inside the vehicle. I discovered that body height is not the only factor to consider when arranging the seats and mirrors. I observed a link between upper and lower body proportions in relation to the mirror and seat adjustments. This enabled the development of a mathematical equation for detecting the best positioning of the driver's seats and mirrors within the car. As Volvo vehicles have 360-degree cameras, a person holding the key and approaching the vehicle can be detected. An exact distance between the tracked individual and the car was not required based on the proportion equation. This allowed the person holding the key and approaching the car to be measured to adjust the seat and mirrors inside the car while the person is approaching the car.

Visualization of how a driver gets tracked in front of a vehicle

Patent Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method performed by a body parameters supporting system of a vehicle for supporting obtaining body parameters of a person. The body parameters supporting system determines—with input from one or more surrounding detecting sensors adapted to capture a surrounding exterior of the vehicle—one or more body parameters capturing conditions for a person present outside the vehicle. The body parameters supporting the system further communicates one or more instruction signals indicating one or more body motion and/or obstruction removal instructions, wherein the one or more instruction signals are determined in consideration of counteracting, changing, and/or overcoming at least one of the one or more body parameters capturing conditions. The disclosure also relates to a body parameters supporting system in accordance with the foregoing, and a vehicle comprising such a body parameters supporting system.