Preparation Final Master Project (2025-2026)

The background section of the study refers to China’s intelligent transport policies and the market’s pursuit of technological innovation, demonstrating a basic understanding of the commercial context. The section titled ‘Individual Reflections’ specifically highlights that the design itself has the potential to serve as a cost-reduction strategy—it can utilise existing ambient lighting hardware in vehicles to provide information alerts without the need for additional, expensive components, thereby laying the groundwork for economic viability in commercial implementation. However, the study lacks a systematic business analysis and fails to explore the varying demand for this feature across vehicle models in different price brackets.

The research demonstrates conceptual innovation by expanding the role of in-car lighting from traditional ‘ambience and decoration’ to that of an ‘information interaction medium’. In terms of colour coding, a simple principle was proposed: ‘two to three colours are sufficient, with red reserved for the highest emergency level’. However, as the primary objective of this study was to gather insights and validate functional feasibility, the prototype itself ‘lacked significant visual appeal’. The exploration of aesthetics was limited to functional ‘recognisability’ and did not address brand identity, emotional resonance, atmosphere creation or the purely aesthetic experience of light and shadow.

The study utilised an Arduino and its programming to implement dynamic lighting effects (such as those triggered by a PIR sensor), and incorporated a Bluetooth module to provide a remote control interface. At the data level, basic statistical analyses and visualisations were carried out on the questionnaire and UEQ results, providing a preliminary quantification of users’ evaluations of the system’s ‘novelty’, ‘effectiveness’ and ‘distinctiveness’.

At the technical implementation level, this study completed two rounds of physical prototype iterations (the first round utilised cardboard and foam fitted with LED strips; the second round incorporated proximity sensors to enable distance-based interaction), demonstrating the ability to transform a concept into a testable prototype. The study explored the feasibility of key technical parameters such as light source configuration (linear/point), installation position, brightness adjustment and dynamic modes (breathing/flowing/strobing), and validated the technical settings of ‘dynamic brightness adjustment based on distance’ and ‘medium brightness level being most suitable’. However, the prototype has not been deployed in a real vehicle or a high-fidelity driving simulator, and the technical solution has not yet been tested in an actual in-vehicle environment.

Through questionnaire surveys, workshops, user testing and interviews, this study systematically gathered in-depth insights and needs from the target users (drivers). The study accurately identified real-world pain points such as ‘blind spots’, ‘fragmented information’ and ‘distractions common among novice drivers’, and constructed storyboards of typical hazardous scenarios based on empathy analysis (first-person and third-person perspectives). User testing clearly validated the system’s practicality in assisting with the detection of blind spots to the side and rear, and participants generally recognised its value as an aid in complex traffic environments (such as car parks and areas where pedestrians and vehicles share the road).