Designing user interface for car on-board diagnostics

Abstract

Most cars, already on the road, do not have a communication technology within them to communicate car data. The Onboard Diagnostics (OBD) device communication module collects required (and approved) car data on a cloud server. This thesis aims to provide a digital solution following a user-centric approach to inform the users to take immediate actions and encourage them to take preventive actions based on driving data on a mobile application. Chatbots are being used to provide advice and support. This thesis investigates the influencing factors that affect car user actions towards car alerts/problems provided by the OBD device through a chatbot. User testing with semistructured interviews and Wizard of Oz experiments (human chatting -improvised - structured dialogues) were chosen as the methods of study given the resource constraints of the thesis. The users were comfortable using chatbot for knowing car problems and booking car service. At places where information presented seemed insufficient, users preferred talking to a human agent. The findings of the study can be useful for connected car companies to create chatbot interface. The research was conducted with UK and India users and result is relevant to these regions.