skip to Main Content
ford people-centered automation

Ford Gifts $50K to Design Lab People-Centered Automation

Ford Gifts $50K to Design Lab People-Centered Automation

Ford Gifts $50K to Design Lab People-Centered Automation

Colleen Emmenegger, Head of People-Centered Automation at The Design Lab, was recently the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Ford Motor Company. The grant was awarded for her work regarding how drivers can understand, negotiate, and manage shared autonomy with their vehicles in a way that is accessible and easily translatable.

“We’re trying to figure out if you can build a contract with the driver and her automated vehicle co-pilot so the driver knows exactly what they need to do and what the system does,” says Emmenegger. “We’re trying to build something that explicitly and continuously communicates, and that doesn’t act as an invisible ‘controlling entity’ of the car. A system that provides dynamic, yet constant feedback to the driver and not sudden, startling warnings.” 


Colleen Emmenegger, Design Lab Head of People-Centered Automation

In 1990, Emmenegger graduated from the first batch of Cognitive Science students from UC San Diego. She initially pursued degrees in marine biology and mechanical engineering before discovering cognitive science during a class jointly taught by Ed Hutchins and Don Norman, which introduced her to a world where engineering and human behavior intersected. Now, Norman is her project partner. “I never thought I’d end up working with him, or working at UCSD,” says Emmenegger. “I really came full circle.”  After graduation, she worked as a programmer, received her M.S. in Human Factors from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and went on to work in the aviation industry before being bought into the Design Lab by Hutchins, who invited her to join one of his projects. 

A key element to Emmenegger’s shared autonomy approach is that the driver is in control of the automotive vehicle in an accessible and simple way. Her research reimagines the automotive process as teamwork between co-pilots: the human driver and the AI. “It looks at the driver and the car as though they are two team members working towards a shared goal,” she says. “Additionally, the communication or negotiation between the co-pilots goes beyond the notion of human machine interaction to the development of a co-pilot relationship.”

The project also works to establish a uniform system between cars so that the driver is not confused by differences between car models. “In the aviation industry, there’s something called ‘mode confusion.’ It’s when pilots make assumptions about what automated systems are engaged at any given time, and incorrect assumptions can lead to serious problems,” Emmenegger explains. “I’ve seen this happen many times in the automotive car industry for regular drivers, who don’t even have the training to deal with such stressful conditions, unlike pilots.”  

According to her research, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and confusion amongst people as their cars become more automated. As different companies continue to produce their own versions of automotive vehicles, it is important that they maintain systems that are consistent and easily translatable. 

Partnering with Ford has greatly enhanced Emmenegger’s research. “There is a lot of richness that comes from working with [Ford],” she says. “They help us understand the industry, its market pressures, strengths, and limitations, which ensures that there isn’t a disconnect between us, the designers, and the people who are actually using the system. Their contribution to the research has been incredibly beneficial for our work.” 

The company’s approach to collaboration has also fostered an engaging research environment. “When you work with an industry partner, they can have different ideas for the project than what you and your team have,” Emmenegger explains. “But with Ford, they are incredibly clear with their communication, which helps my team to identify the right questions.”

Through Ford’s generous grant, Emmenegger will continue her work in making the driving experience more enjoyable and accessible for all.  “I want to make the driving experience more fun,” Emmenger expresses. “I think we should inject a little more enjoyment in our lives and design our systems to include it.”

Colleen Emmenegger, Head of People-Centered Automation at The Design Lab, was recently the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Ford Motor Company. The grant was awarded for her work regarding how drivers can understand, negotiate, and manage shared autonomy with their vehicles in a way that is accessible and easily translatable.

“We’re trying to figure out if you can build a contract with the driver and her automated vehicle co-pilot so the driver knows exactly what they need to do and what the system does,” says Emmenegger. “We’re trying to build something that explicitly and continuously communicates, and that doesn’t act as an invisible ‘controlling entity’ of the car. A system that provides dynamic, yet constant feedback to the driver and not sudden, startling warnings.” 


Colleen Emmenegger, Design Lab Head of People-Centered Automation

In 1990, Emmenegger graduated from the first batch of Cognitive Science students from UC San Diego. She initially pursued degrees in marine biology and mechanical engineering before discovering cognitive science during a class jointly taught by Ed Hutchins and Don Norman, which introduced her to a world where engineering and human behavior intersected. Now, Norman is her project partner. “I never thought I’d end up working with him, or working at UCSD,” says Emmenegger. “I really came full circle.”  After graduation, she worked as a programmer, received her M.S. in Human Factors from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and went on to work in the aviation industry before being bought into the Design Lab by Hutchins, who invited her to join one of his projects. 

A key element to Emmenegger’s shared autonomy approach is that the driver is in control of the automotive vehicle in an accessible and simple way. Her research reimagines the automotive process as teamwork between co-pilots: the human driver and the AI. “It looks at the driver and the car as though they are two team members working towards a shared goal,” she says. “Additionally, the communication or negotiation between the co-pilots goes beyond the notion of human machine interaction to the development of a co-pilot relationship.”

The project also works to establish a uniform system between cars so that the driver is not confused by differences between car models. “In the aviation industry, there’s something called ‘mode confusion.’ It’s when pilots make assumptions about what automated systems are engaged at any given time, and incorrect assumptions can lead to serious problems,” Emmenegger explains. “I’ve seen this happen many times in the automotive car industry for regular drivers, who don’t even have the training to deal with such stressful conditions, unlike pilots.”  

According to her research, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and confusion amongst people as their cars become more automated. As different companies continue to produce their own versions of automotive vehicles, it is important that they maintain systems that are consistent and easily translatable. 

Partnering with Ford has greatly enhanced Emmenegger’s research. “There is a lot of richness that comes from working with [Ford],” she says. “They help us understand the industry, its market pressures, strengths, and limitations, which ensures that there isn’t a disconnect between us, the designers, and the people who are actually using the system. Their contribution to the research has been incredibly beneficial for our work.” 

The company’s approach to collaboration has also fostered an engaging research environment. “When you work with an industry partner, they can have different ideas for the project than what you and your team have,” Emmenegger explains. “But with Ford, they are incredibly clear with their communication, which helps my team to identify the right questions.”

Through Ford’s generous grant, Emmenegger will continue her work in making the driving experience more enjoyable and accessible for all.  “I want to make the driving experience more fun,” Emmenger expresses. “I think we should inject a little more enjoyment in our lives and design our systems to include it.”

Colleen Emmenegger, Head of People-Centered Automation at The Design Lab, was recently the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Ford Motor Company. The grant was awarded for her work regarding how drivers can understand, negotiate, and manage shared autonomy with their vehicles in a way that is accessible and easily translatable.

“We’re trying to figure out if you can build a contract with the driver and her automated vehicle co-pilot so the driver knows exactly what they need to do and what the system does,” says Emmenegger. “We’re trying to build something that explicitly and continuously communicates, and that doesn’t act as an invisible ‘controlling entity’ of the car. A system that provides dynamic, yet constant feedback to the driver and not sudden, startling warnings.” 


Colleen Emmenegger, Design Lab Head of People-Centered Automation

In 1990, Emmenegger graduated from the first batch of Cognitive Science students from UC San Diego. She initially pursued degrees in marine biology and mechanical engineering before discovering cognitive science during a class jointly taught by Ed Hutchins and Don Norman, which introduced her to a world where engineering and human behavior intersected. Now, Norman is her project partner. “I never thought I’d end up working with him, or working at UCSD,” says Emmenegger. “I really came full circle.”  After graduation, she worked as a programmer, received her M.S. in Human Factors from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and went on to work in the aviation industry before being bought into the Design Lab by Hutchins, who invited her to join one of his projects. 

A key element to Emmenegger’s shared autonomy approach is that the driver is in control of the automotive vehicle in an accessible and simple way. Her research reimagines the automotive process as teamwork between co-pilots: the human driver and the AI. “It looks at the driver and the car as though they are two team members working towards a shared goal,” she says. “Additionally, the communication or negotiation between the co-pilots goes beyond the notion of human machine interaction to the development of a co-pilot relationship.”

The project also works to establish a uniform system between cars so that the driver is not confused by differences between car models. “In the aviation industry, there’s something called ‘mode confusion.’ It’s when pilots make assumptions about what automated systems are engaged at any given time, and incorrect assumptions can lead to serious problems,” Emmenegger explains. “I’ve seen this happen many times in the automotive car industry for regular drivers, who don’t even have the training to deal with such stressful conditions, unlike pilots.”  

According to her research, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and confusion amongst people as their cars become more automated. As different companies continue to produce their own versions of automotive vehicles, it is important that they maintain systems that are consistent and easily translatable. 

Partnering with Ford has greatly enhanced Emmenegger’s research. “There is a lot of richness that comes from working with [Ford],” she says. “They help us understand the industry, its market pressures, strengths, and limitations, which ensures that there isn’t a disconnect between us, the designers, and the people who are actually using the system. Their contribution to the research has been incredibly beneficial for our work.” 

The company’s approach to collaboration has also fostered an engaging research environment. “When you work with an industry partner, they can have different ideas for the project than what you and your team have,” Emmenegger explains. “But with Ford, they are incredibly clear with their communication, which helps my team to identify the right questions.”

Through Ford’s generous grant, Emmenegger will continue her work in making the driving experience more enjoyable and accessible for all.  “I want to make the driving experience more fun,” Emmenger expresses. “I think we should inject a little more enjoyment in our lives and design our systems to include it.”

Read Next

Ucsd San Diego

Civic Design – DSGN 160: Open Enrollment

This studio course explores how to design products, services, and policies for complex socio-technical systems. The class will follow a human-centered design process that includes user research, concept generation, prototyping, pitching, and alliance building. Students will work in teams to design solutions to civic challenges affecting people in the San Diego region. This will be a good course for intermediate to advanced design students who want to build up their portfolio and to practice their skills with sketching, storyboarding, prototyping, and evaluating services for real-world problems.

As part of this class, teams will enter the Design for San Diego 2020 challenge (D4SD.org) and interact with other innovators, experts, and mentors throughout the city to address problems related to Mobility, Health, Environment, and Housing. Top teams will have an opportunity to present their work and win prizes at events in downtown San Diego!

The Design Lab’s Srishti Palani Wins Google’s PhD Fellowship

In continuing excellence among UC San Diego Design Lab researchers, Srishti Palani, a PhD student and Department of Cognitive Science at the Design Lab, was named a 2021 Google PhD Fellow for her work in Human Computer Interaction focused on improving web search and intelligent guidance during creative work. The fellowship is open to researchers in computer science and related fields. Palani was one of 60 students throughout the world to be selected for a Google Fellowship–an award that supports outstanding and promising PhD candidates of all backgrounds who seek to influence the future of technology by providing funding, mentorship, collaboration and internship opportunities.

Palani’s research takes an interdisciplinary approach involving cognitive, computer, and learning sciences to better web search and intelligent scaffolding of complex creative information work. “We use web search almost every day to search things, and it affects how we learn and work and create and collaborate. I’m really passionate about researching this area and building novel computational techniques that integrate web search into people's larger work context. Google, of course, has the most state-of-the-art web search technology that has existed in my lifetime, so I’ve always wanted to collaborate with the researchers, software engineers, and data scientists there to understand how we can get a better web search when people want to search for more complex information needs.”

Steven Rick on Designing for Healthcare | Design Chats


Steven Rick, Graduate Student at UC San Diego, shares his approach and experiences when designing for healthcare and how design can improve doctor-patient relationships.

Design Chats is a video series where we sit down with design practitioners to answer questions about how they utilize human-centered design.

View our Design Chats playlist on the Design Lab YouTube Channel

Steven Rick on Designing for Healthcare | Design Chats


Steven Rick, Graduate Student at UC San Diego, shares his approach and experiences when designing for healthcare and how design can improve doctor-patient relationships.

Design Chats is a video series where we sit down with design practitioners to answer questions about how they utilize human-centered design.

View our Design Chats playlist on the Design Lab YouTube Channel
J. Tanner Cusick

J. Tanner Cusick joins the Design Lab as a Designer-in-Residence

When J. Tanner Cusick took a class called Social Architectures, he never expected that the trajectory of his career would change forever. While pursuing his MFA at UC San Diego, Cusick explains that it was in this class that he and his classmates designed “interventions” around campus. "Basically, we would change the environment and see how it influenced human behavior,” says Cusick. “I did a piece under Geisel that challenged people to use the space differently by creating a game of human Candy Land. I colored all the blocks beneath the library, and everyone came in costumes.” He reflects that what he didn’t realize at the time was that they were really practicing experience design.

It was the combination of this event and Cusick’s experience as a teaching assistant (TA) that taught him what User Experience (UX) was. “While I was a TA, I taught a digital art class and students were assigned The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman. I'd never read the book before and I was amazed by it," said Cusick. It was the ideas in the book that influenced Cusick to shift the context of his work. “I ended up teaching myself about the discipline and doing a lot of UX design and content design. And that's what I have been doing since then."
Don-Norman

What is the Future of Design in 50 Seconds?

From Jnd.org & Don Norman: I'm developing a new talk: "21st Century Design: Addressing Major Societal…

Back To Top