Jerry Yao | PEV Mobile Experience Design

Introducing the PEV

PEV (Persuasive Electric Vehicle) is an autonomous bike sharing system. It's a research project at MIT Media Lab which I'm part of. It aims to solve urban mobility challenges with a healthy, convenient, sustainable alternative to cars. The PEV is a low-cost, agile, shared-use autonomous bike that can be either an electrically assisted tricycle for passenger commuting or an autonomous carrier for package delivery.

The PEV uses standard bicycle components and is lightweight yet robust. Its sensors are easy to reconfigure and it has a 250W mid-drive electric motor and 10Ah battery pack that provides 25 miles of travel per charge and a top speed of 20 miles per hour. The PEV can be autonomous, operated by the rider, or provide the rider with an electric assist. PEV's operate in bike lanes, avoiding the congestion and adding incentives to make more bikeable cities.

I also design the mechanical system for PEV.

My role

As a sole product designer in this project. I design mechanical system, human-machine interface (HMI), hardware system layout, and user experience for the product. I built this prototype at the MIT Media Lab in Dec. 2018.

Skills & software

Mechanical system design, UX prototyping, machining, interaction design.
Rhinoceros, SoldWorks, HTML, CSS, Javascript, ROS, Arduino, CNC machining, Laser Cut, Water jet, 3D printing.

Team

Michael Lin, Phil Tinn, Justin Zhang, Yago Lizarribar, Jason Wang, Vincy Hsiao, Kai Chang, Luke Jiang, Bill Lin, Danny Chou.

Learn more from the Media Lab project website.

Problem

For a future mobility platform such as the PEV, what will the experience be? What type of features can we implement in the mobile application for user to interact with the vehicle?

PEV mobile application experience

As this project has pending patents, I can only show part of the design here. Please contact me directly if you wish to learn more about it.

Introducing the PEV Donkey Mode

The Donkey Mode utilizes Ultra Wideband sensor and allows PEV to follow the users, helping them carry groceries or bags. Watch the video (live demo) and the mobile app wireframe for more details.