Bosch VR

A 360 degree virtual reality experience featuring the Bosch automated driving development car.

My Role: UI/UX Designer, Researcher, Art Director
Additional Team Members: Scrum Master, Product Consultant, 2 Engineers, Animation Team, Film Crew

Problem

When people think of Bosch, they think of windshield wipers and dishwashers - they don’t necessarily associate Bosch with future-facing technology. As a result, Bosch has a hard time recruiting and often loses top talent to Google and other well-known tech companies. Bosch needed to create awareness as a leader in the field of automated driving, and change the current perception from solely a manufacturer of home appliances to a leading, innovative technology provider..

Process

Bosch had taken a Tesla and modified the hardware to install their own automated driving system and interface inside the car. In order to show off the technology inside, our concept revolved around what it would be like to be behind the wheel of an automated driving vehicle and see the possibilities of the future when manual driving is no longer necessary.

Beginning with our definition of 4 personas to target with the experience, we concepted and storyboarded around multiple different ways to showcase the ride. Concepts included an eye-witness experience, a tag along experience, and a character POV with an exaggerated fantasy world, the storyline we ultimate went with. Showing this futuristic cityscape also gave us the ability to plug other Bosch products in the technology space, and made it easy for users to learn more at the end of the video.

Partnering with Optimus for the production and animation of the 360 degree video, we engineered the Bosch VR experience using a 3D gaming platform, Unity, to combine 360 degree live driving footage, 360 degree interior video capture of the car and technology visualization, and 3D animation. Our team recorded the live footage during a drive that utilized the automated driving functionality, in order to give users a first-person perspective to experience automated driving. The experience takes advantage of the immersiveness of VR to show how automated driving is going to transform our world.

I then designed the app experience around it - particularly centered on onboarding and understanding the graphical elements they were about to see and how to interact with them.

Solution 

The Bosch Automated Driving VR experience places users in the driver’s seat of the vehicle where they are relieved from the responsibilities of manual driving, or driving as we know it today. The app provides an exciting way to give consumers an idea of what it is like to be behind the wheel of an automated driving vehicle and see the possibilities of the future when manual driving is no longer necessary.

Outcome:

At CES 2017, Bosch debuted their app for both Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard-enabled iOS and Android platforms. The Automated Driving VR experience is the first offering to be released on Bosch’s VR platform, with plans to release additional VR experiences in the future. The response at CES was overwhelming - attendees lined up at the Bosch Automated Driving booth to immerse themselves in the experience on Oculus Rift for the entire day.  

Watch the 360 video below or download The Bosch Virtual Reality app  from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.