Enhancing the user experience of children in family vehicles
Authors: Braun Franziska , Stegmüller Sebastian , Ardilio Antonino 
Published: August 2024

The design of family-oriented vehicles is typically tailored to the needs of parents. Examining the current market for family vehicles reveals a primary focus on providing sufficient storage space, safety features and accessibility, particularly for the rear seat. The actual needs of children appear to be secondary to those of their parents. Aside from foldable tables, integrated screens or charging options for smartphones and tablets, there are only a few elements that enhance the passenger experience for children, especially on longer journeys. Furthermore, entertainment options are usually digital and provided as content at separate devices or integrated screens. According to the research report by the KFN University of Hannover, intensive media usage can lead to poor concentration, sleep disorders and a decrease in social contact which is contrary to a healthy child development. Particularly on long journeys by vehicle, media consumption has a counterproductive effect, making children restless, bored, and experiencing difficulties in calming down during night journeys. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the car has become more appealing for longer holiday trips. According to a study by the German Federal Statistical Office, compared to 2019 10% more trips with at least one overnight stay were made by car in 2021. The heightened use of cars has raised customer expectations and requirements. Additionally, longer journey durations mean more stress for the children as passengers. The question arises: how can the driving experience for children be enhanced, especially on long distances? In collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation, design recommendations were developed to improve the experience of children in family vehicles. This 6-month project involved expert interviews, user interviews, an early stage user experiment, prototyping of ideas and a final user tests with children. Two field of basic research were analysed. On the one hand the status quo in industrial- and product design regarding to child-oriented design patterns and on the other hand the cognitive, motor and sensory development stages of children in general. The latter serve to form meaningful user group clusters with appropriate abilities and needs. In addition to the literature research, interviews were conducted with experts and children to complete the knowledge base towards an application-oriented perspective. Product developers and designers from two leading international toy manufacturers, a designer from an international children's furniture company, an educationalist, and a child psychologist were interviewed regarding design principles, gender differences in children's toys, the influence of media on play behavior, and the changing needs of children as they get older. In addition to the experts' opinion, guerrilla testing with paper prototypes was carried out at the Science Festival in Stuttgart to gather the children's perspective. Eighteen children aged between 5 and 14 were asked about their favourite activities in the car and their likes and dislikes about being a passenger. Initial hypotheses were formed based on the findings from the literature review, the expert interviews, and the Guerrilla testing. On this basis, a further test phase was started with three children of different ages. Existing toys were clustered according to different characteristics of their sensory stimulation, such as auditory, visual, haptic, etc. The toys were allocated to the children and tested for their acceptance and play flow during day and night rides. Functional prototypes were built, to test the acceptance of the concepts in a final user study. FDM printing, maker tools such as Arduinos as well as existing toys such as plates for building blocks were used for the development of the prototypes that were integrated into the vehicle interior. For the final testing, 10 children between the ages of 6 and 10 from the 1st to 4th grade were invited to experience the prototypes within a user experiment. The concepts were tested both during the day and in simulated night-time driving. Furthermore, the test runs were carried out with single children as well as with children in pairs. Based on the testing results, 6 design principles were developed, each with 1-2 application examples. The study proposes a methodology, combining expert knowledge and experimental user testing for effective children-oriented design projects. However, it identifies a gap in theoretical and generic design principles specific to children's products, underscoring the need for guidelines in development projects and educational curricula for future designers and engineers.