Bring better experience to users in car! An exploration of designing in-car third-party application platform

Abstract

As a crowd-sourcing solution, the third-party application platform has made significant contribution to the construction and development of the mobile service ecosystem. New requirements regarding quality of in-car apps and customized user interface design are emerging along with the blossom of the connected car services. Considered the strengths of different stakeholders in the automotive industry, car companies with years of knowledge and experience accumulation and close connection with suppliers, Internet companies, hardware suppliers and network operators, shall become the competitive resource integrator and build their own in-car third-party application platform. The focus of this study is to explore the opportunities and practical methodologies in designing the in-car third-party application platform.

This study would follow the basic steps of the DRM (Design Research Methodology). Through the literature reviews on Platform Strategy, existing studies and trends regarding the in-car third-party application platform design, as well as the structure and data flow of connected car service ecosystem, clear framework and mechanism for the platform are structured. Moreover, the au-thor would propose a set of design opportunities based on the touchpoints of user ad platform interaction. Following is the Descriptive Study I, the author would emphasis on the practical design principles ad methodologies on the basis of interaction design theories. In the Prescriptive Study phase, a Hi-fi prototype for the in-car third-party application platform is designed to implement the proposed methodologies, also reflecting the uniqueness of the connected car service ecosystem. The Descriptive Study II phase aims to summarize and validate the deliveries of this study by means of expert interview. Comments and suggestions from design specialists, in-car application developers provide strong support and valuable complement to the study. Lastly, the research limitations, design suggestions and directions of future work are briefly introduced.