COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
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SmartShield: The Windshield of the Future
When it comes to improving automotive interfaces, people obsess over improving
the dashboard, steering wheel, gears, and so on. But why stop there? Virtually all
automobiles make no use of the space above the dashboard, when in fact there is a greatly
underutilized resource—the windshield. As of now, windshields are no different than
windows with wipers. However, we plan to revolutionize the windshield and turn it into
an equally integral part of the automotive interface as anything else that comes below it.
That’s where SmartShield – the windshield of the future – comes into play.
Before moving onto SmartShield’s functionalities, I would like to quickly point
out that SmartShield does NOT require any modifications, other than the windshields
themselves, to be made onto the current automotive interface. In other words, installing
SmartShield does not require that we make changes to the dashboard, steering wheel, and
so on. We are simply adding on enhanced functions to the typical, average automobile
owned by most households in the United States in year 2013.
Now let us consider our prototypical user, Veronica. Veronica is a 35 year-old
businesswoman and a very busy one. She’s always traveling in new cities she does not
know anything about, and she also cannot afford wasting time searching for restaurants,
hotels, and other destinations. Veronica is also very dedicated to her family and often
brings them along to show them a good time. However, her husband, equally clueless of
the surroundings, sits idly in the passenger’s seat while her very energetic children throw
tantrums in the backseat. Though she is a skilled, experienced driver, the pressure of
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
balancing work and showing her family a good time leaves her exhausted each and every
time.
Put yourself in Veronica’s shoes and imagine the steps you’d take to prevent such
a nightmare from happening again. Recall that you are visiting a place you have never
been – so what would you do? You’d probably search the web in advance, printing out
pages of maps to assist you in the car. If you are more tech-savvy, perhaps a new
navigation system to guide you with your travels, yet you still need to prepare a list of
addresses and destinations you foresee yourself going to. On top of that, you don’t know
which navigation systems are most reliable, and you hate having to look down at that tiny
screen, missing out on the scenic experience and risking unwanted car accidents. And
let’s be honest, you always take the wrong turns because you can never tell when to turn.
For Veronica, a wrong turn is a guaranteed tardy to her business meeting.
To address all of the issues mentioned above, SmartShield provides passengers
with four main utilities: Amenity Information, Traffic Patterns, Safety, and
Entertainment. By implementing SmartShield, we are basically transforming the
automobile into a computer with wheels. The windshields on your car serve as the “eyes”
of an automobile: the SmartShield sees exactly what you see through the windshield.
Additionally, because SmartShield is connected into a larger database (such as the
internet), it is able to update and process any information real-time. For user interaction,
the SmartShield uses an idealized voice recognition system that responds only to the
driver’s voice.
Imagine you are a student driving through University Avenue here in Palo Alto.
Each time you drive by the restaurant “Siam Royale,” SmartShield immediately
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
recognizes that it is a three-star Thai restaurant and that its hours today go from 11:30 am
to 9:30 pm, according to Yelp. The driver need only ask SmartShield; the SmartShield
will respond and inform the driver of what he or she wants to know. Or imagine that you
are a parent dropping off your child at Stanford during new student orientation. You do
not know how to get to your son’s dorm, and you find the campus map to be much too
complicated. You find that most pedestrians you stop to ask are just as confused as you
are, as they are new students themselves. Ask SmartShield for directions and watch a
faded blue line appear directly on the windshield directing your path – you no longer
have to look down at your tiny navigation device and risk of running into another
parent’s car and embarrassing your son on the first day of college.
The restaurant example and the blue line function are just two of infinite services
SmartShield can provide you with. To give you a better idea of what SmartShield is
capable of, let us revisit Veronica, our beloved businesswoman always struggling to
navigate through different parts of the world. We assume that Veronica lives in an era
where all cars already have SmartShield installed into their cars, and that she is the very
last one to try it out. Every car with SmartShield is registered into a database and are all
interconnected. In other words, the SmartShield from one automobile can locate and
determine the status of other cars with SmartShields—a functionality to be discussed later
in Veronica’s story. Now, recall that Veronica is incredibly busy, has no time to plan
ahead for her trip, and often has the rest of her family accompanying her. Allow me to
lead you through the first day Veronica uses a car with SmartShield – the day Veronica’s
life changes drastically for the better.
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
Veronica just got off an eight-hour flight, landing at Boston’s Logan Airport. This
is her first time in the East Coast, as she is an all-time Californian who lived in Palo Alto
her whole life. She is here to conduct a large-scale business meeting with one of her
biggest partners, but she also brought with her Dr. Chen, her husband, and two of her
children to go sightseeing. She rented a standard, family-sized SUV that can handle both
business and recreation, something she always does on business trips with family.
Veronica thinks the car itself isn’t anything special. What excites her the most, however,
is that this SUV is a new model with SmartShield installed.
Veronica was not prepared at all for Bostonian winter, not to mention nearly two
feet of snow on the ground. She and her family, definitely not wearing enough layers,
rush to the SUV in hopes of escaping the dreadful cold. Veronica takes the driver’s seat,
her husband the passenger’s seat, and her children make themselves comfortable in the
back. She starts the car immediately and reaches for the heater, and she is ready for take
off. She starts the car and much to her surprise, SmartShield, sporting a near-human
voice, greets her.
SmartShield says the following while displaying the text on a little running stripe
at the bottom of the windshield: “Hello. I am SmartShield, and I am here to help you with
your driving experience here in Boston, Massachusetts. Before we begin, I must ask that
the driver tell me his or her name. What is your na-” Veronica, being the ever-impatient
driver, reads the text on screen before SmartShield finishes speaking. She answers,
“Veronica.” “Thank you, Veronica. I will respond only to your voice while the
automobile is moving. If this is your first time using SmartShield, please do not hesitate
to ask me for directions at anytime. To address me, start any sentence with
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
‘SmartShield—’and then your command.” Veronica doesn’t ask for directions, as she has
seen commercials advertising user-to-SmartShield interaction on TV. Veronica then says,
just as they did in the commercials, “SmartShield, what mall is closest from here?”
SmartShield displays on screen the Copley Place, Chestnut Hill Shopping Center, and the
Burlington Mall, each with an image and short description attached. Veronica simply
says “SmartShield, look at the one on the left.” The windshield now displays information
specific to Copley, such as hours, stores, location, parking availability, estimated time of
arrival, and so on. On the far right-hand side the screen displays four options: “Shortest
Time”, “Most use of Free Ways,” “Safest,” and “Custom.” Satisfied with Copley,
Veronica says “SmartShield, take me to the Copley Shopping Center, fastest.”
As soon as Veronica enters the road, SmartShield prompts her to turn left by
showing a faded blue line appears on the screen guiding the pathway. The dimensions of
the line are matched to seem as if drawn directly on top of the road. Veronica finds the
lines to be extremely helpful; not only are the lines impossible to misinterpret, but she
also does not have to look down at the navigation system’s screen at each intersection.
After sometime, SmartShield says, “Traffic detected ahead. Would you like a detour?”
Veronica interacts with the system: “SmartShield, what’s the difference in ETA
(estimated time of arrival)?” SmartShield answers, “The ETA will decrease by 10
minutes.” Veronica takes the detour, having avoided a traffic jam that would have cost
her an additional 10 minutes. Little does Veronica know, SmartShield, without notifying
her, chose certain routes to avoid the construction on Harvard Bridge, the crash site along
Symphony Street, and other areas with high traffic densities. SmartShield is able to
achieve this because all cars with SmartShields are linked up in a database and crowd-
COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
source data. The cars with SmartShields in front of Veronica sent information to the
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database indicating the accidents and traffic, so all the cars now know to detour. In
addition, using this technology, SmartShield has provided recommendations to Veronica
for the safest times to merge and exit, depending on the location of all surrounding cars
and their moving speeds. The faded blue line on the windshield blinks and shows a
merging into the next lane when the lane she’s currently on slows down drastically. She
merges in right before a slow-moving car creeps up to her blind-spot, something
SmartShield knew would happen. Veronica has no idea of all the hard work SmartShield
has put in for her. In fact, Veronica despises being told what to do. She is rather
ungrateful and silences SmartShield: “SmartShield, no audio-directions needed.”
Veronica is now on Newbury Street, an area with numerous shops and countless
restaurants right by the Copley mall. Her youngest daughter Allison has been
complaining the whole ride – she is extremely hungry and would love some food, and at
this point, so would everyone else in the car. While Veronica looks around for a
restaurant to eat, the passengers look outside the SmartShields closest to them. Although
only Veronica is entitled to the voice-recognition, the rest of her family can interact with
their SmartShield by touch. Allison learns that the restaurant she sees through her
SmartShield received 4 stars on Yelp and that they serve Mediterranean food, her
favorite. Dr. Chen finds a hidden gyro place that he would’ve otherwise overlooked
without SmartShield.
Veronica, on the other hand, would love some Japanese food and believes she has
prerogative to decide because she has been driving everyone. She asks SmartShield,
“SmartShield, what is the most popular Japanese restaurant nearby? Nothing too pricy.”
COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
SmartShield suggests Mentei, a local Japanese restaurant incredibly popular among
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young students in the area. The restaurant is open from 11:00 am to 6:30 pm everyday,
yakisoba is their best selling dish, and according to Yelp, the restaurant is rather cheap,
with only two $-signs. Everyone loved their meal, and the family was able to stuff
themselves with only 7$ per person.
With their stomachs full and content, Veronica and her family finally head
towards the Copley Place. SmartShield notifies Veronica has arrived: “You have arrived.
Would you like me to search for available parking areas?” Veronica says yes and asks,
“is there Valet Parking here?” SmartShield replies, “The valet parking at Copley Place is
currently unavailable. There are three parking structures available within two miles.”
Veronica asks, “which is the closest available one and how many spaces are available?
“Structure C is closest only with one spot open. Structure A has 10 spots open.” Veronica
makes the conservative decision to park at structure A, as she finds out from SmartShield
that the fares are also the lowest. Veronica is very pleased, as she was able to avoid the
dreadful experience of searching for parking for extended periods of time in an
unfamiliar area. The family shops at Copley and finally grabs some warm clothes.
Well fed, warmly clothed, and finally exhausted, the family search for available
hotels and their fares, which SmartShield is again able to help them with. The family rest
up and the next day travel around Cambridge and the greater Boston area. With Tourist
Mode activated, the family is able to drive through areas of town with SmartShield
explaining the historical significance of structures and landmarks – including John
Harvard’s statue, John F. Kennedy’s dorm while he was a student, the anecdotes behind
MIT’s bridge, and so on. The family is able to finally relax and have a chance to bond
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
again – something Veronica was not able to do when scrambling through pages of maps
and printed plans mixed along with her business papers. In terms of work, Veronica finds
herself always on time for her business meetings, in fact arriving 5 to 10 minutes early
each time. She deems SmartShield to be a lifesaver, because one morning she spilled
coffee all over her blouse 20 minutes prior to a business meeting, and SmartShield was
able to direct her to the nearest clothing shop on route. To top it all off, late in the
evening Veronica and Dr. Chen decide to go on a date (something she rarely has time
for), and they drive up to the top of Millstone Hill, also recommended by SmartShield.
The two lie down for a romantic evening, as they bought a brand new bottle of wine at a
local winery (also recommended by SmartShield). Inside the car the couple looks for
constellations through the sunroof, which is also an implementation of SmartShield.
SmartShield indicates that at this time of year, Scorpio is one of the dominant
constellations in the night sky. With all her business and familial responsibilities taken
care of, Veronica travels back to warm and sunny California, happy and surprisingly, not
at all stressed. She installs SmartShield onto her own car right away.
The purpose of SmartShield is to lend a helping hand to hardworking
professionals such as Veronica handle both business and recreation with greater ease than
ever before. We see SmartShield as a way to merge what we love about computers,
iPhones, and iPads with our means of transportation. We envision a world where
automobiles are just as well connected as smartphones are today – and with an
unprecedented level of intercommunication available, we believe that SmartShield can
provide us a solution to many of the traffic and driving safety concerns that we have yet
to discern. And the best part is that drivers like Veronica won’t even know the endless
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COMM 169
Due: 3/13/13
Emily Guth, Steve Kim, and Vivian Shen
processes and calculations SmartShield performs to ensure her driving experience is as
easy as can be.
SmartShield definitely has the capacity to go far into the future, and we see its
potential to be limitless. We have designed SmartShield so that it adapts to the current
automotive interface today; however, we believe that automobiles will also change to
better accommodate the functions provided by SmartShield. SmartShield’s potential is
truly boundless, and we see it coevolving with the automobile industry to create a whole
new driving experience. Thank you very much for your undivided attention, and I hope
you believe in SmartShield’s future as strongly as I do.