As part of my graduate research at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD), I collaborated with a leading automotive innovation group to help envision and design an interactive prototype for an autonomous vehicle. The project centered around a custom-built concept car which served as a platform to explore new approaches to user experience, safety, and trust in self-driving systems. My role was to help create an immersive, simulated experience inside the vehicle that helped users understand and visualize how autonomous driving technology functions in real-time.
I helped develop a 360° video-based simulation system, which projected dynamic driving scenarios onto the car’s internal window surfaces, turning the cabin into an interactive visualization space. This allowed passengers to experience the vehicle’s perception, decision-making, and driving behavior from the inside—bridging the gap between human intuition and machine logic. I used Unity, video stitching and compositing tools, and custom projection mapping to synchronize visual cues with the car’s conceptual driving states. The result was a cinematic, immersive journey that simulated urban and highway driving conditions, decision points, and the vehicle’s reasoning process.
This project exemplified how immersive media can demystify emerging technology and build user trust through experiential design. By combining narrative structure, real-time simulation, and spatial storytelling, I helped design a passenger experience that was not only informative but also emotionally engaging and future-facing. It demonstrated the power of XR to translate complex engineering systems into human-centered experiences, offering a new lens through which to explore the evolving relationship between people and autonomous mobility.
