Transforming Zoo Visits with Self-Driving Car Tours for Families
Role & Team
Timeframe
Product
Responsibility
Impact
This project has received recognition at multiple international design competitions, including:
MUSE Design Awards 2025: 🏆 x 1 (Silver Winner in Product Design)
Indigo Design Award 2025: 🏆 x 2 (Silver Winner in UX, Interface & Navigation; Silver Winner in Interactive Design)
Context
Self-Driving Technology x Zoo Safari Parks
Our team was interested in exploring meaningful applications of self-driving technology.
Our team identified zoo safari parks as an ideal application for self-driving technology due to the controlled environment, mature autonomous systems, and strong commercial demand from the thousands of daily visitors at major zoological facilities.
Problem Statement
Bridging the Gap Between Visitor Expectations and Zoo Tour Realities
Zoo and safari park visitors—especially families and first-time guests—often arrive unprepared and struggle with navigation.
Existing transportation and tour options lack customization, language accessibility, and interactive features that support a smooth, enriching, and family-friendly experience.
How might we leverage the self-driving technology to bridge this gap?
Solution
A Car Tour Service in zoo safari parks
Our concept streamlines the safari park journey from planning through post-visit, leveraging the self-driving technology to create a more seamless and enjoyable adventure for families and friends.
It consists of two interconnected platforms:
Car HMI System (Car Display): Real-time wildlife information and guided tour navigation for an immersive safari experience
Companion Phone App: From booking and route planning to capturing memories and sharing experiences
So, how did I get here? It all started with...
User Interviews
Visitors want effortless, engaging experiences but arrive unprepared.
We interviewed 10 participants who visited safari parks within the past 2 years, focusing on transportation and guided tour experiences.
Key findings include:
Visitors rely on clear guidance: Most arrive with minimal preparation and depend on signage and in-ride support to navigate the park.
Families prioritize educational value: Parents want relaxing outings that offer meaningful learning experiences for children.
Interactive features create memories: Guests seek animal information, scenic stops, and ways to capture and share moments.
Competitive Analysis
Rider-focused autonomous vehicles required new design patterns for safari environments.
Analyzing industry leaders (Zoox, Waymo) and safari facilities (San Diego Zoo, Zoo Atlanta), we identified an opportunity to create passenger-centric designs optimized for wildlife observation rather than transportation efficiency.
We adopted minibus specs with enhanced passenger visibility and established safety protocols that prioritized animal interaction while maintaining autonomous vehicle standards.
Defining the Cross-Platform Experience
Journey Mapping
Tours require coordination across pre-visit planning, in-car guidance, and post-visit memories.
Through user journey mapping, I identified that mobile apps excel at planning and reflection, while car displays should minimize distraction during the active safari experience.
Key Iteration 1
Navigation Mental Models: Users expected tour guidance, not traditional navigation patterns
To design the navigation bar for our rider-focused auto HMI system, we analyzed competitor layouts and information architecture. During critiques, we had conflicting ideas as to the extend to follow the existing car HMI design guidelines.
To resolve this, I recruited 20+ participants in one day and conducted rapid card sorting to understand user mental models. This quick testing played a key role in helping ensure a clean and intuitive design for the navigation bar as well as the logic behind the platforms.
Key Iteration 2
Tour Guidance System: Balancing immersive content with navigational awareness
Through iterations, I created a navigation system that lets families focus on enjoying animals rather than figuring out where to go next. The final design features:
Comprehensive map showing routes, stops, and timing
Simple toggle between tour guide and navigation views
Clear park overview with highlighted next stop information
Key Iteration 3
Building Trust in Autonomous Control: Families needed confidence in vehicle safety without technical complexity.
Testing revealed that parents were hesitant to trust autonomous vehicles with their children, particularly regarding emergency situations.
The final car control page featured clear visual status indicators and animated feedback, whereras the Help Center page prioritized emergency buttons, prominent SOS function, and location-aware map for staff assistance. These simplified interfaces align with user expectations and enhance safety in our autonomous zoo vehicles.
UI Style Exploration
Creating Playful and Consistent Designs
We created multiple versions for our system, exploring various UI styles. We ultimately set on a final design that is clean, trustworthy, fun, and rider-centered.
As we finalized our visual style, I created design guidelines for color, text, and layout, and I created a sheet of components. This helped ensure consistency across our designs.
User Testing
Evaluating our Designs and Collecting Data for Iterations
I facilitated two rounds of testing: one for low-fi design, and one for high fi-design. We collected qualitative feedbacks from users, which informed our design iterations.
I also conducted SUS surveys to evaluate and compare the usability of our low- and high-fidelity prototypes:
Low-fidelity prototype: SUS score of 71 (7 participants), indicating above-average usability even in early stages.
High-fidelity prototype: SUS score of 78 (5 participants), showing a solid improvement and strong usability.
Note: System Usability Scale (SUS) is designed to provide reliable insights even with as few as 5 participants, making it a practical method in early-stage or resource-constrained usability testing.
Outcomes
Bringing Joy to Families and Beyond
Our prototype evaluation received enthusiastic responses from a wide range of users, including young adults, parents, and the elderly. Many expressed how the system made zoo visits feel more engaging, convenient, and meaningful.
Retrospectives
Next Steps
With additional resources, this concept could be enhanced through:
Full-scale prototype testing in actual safari conditions
Enhanced accessibility features for visitors with visual or hearing impairments
AI-powered personalization based on visitor engagement patterns
Final Thoughts
Cross-disciplinary collaboration strengthens design
My teammates from architecture backgrounds brought spatial thinking that improved map design, while I mentored them on UX research methods and scalable interface patterns. The combination elevated our work beyond typical car HMI or mobile app conventions.
Rapid Prototyping and Lean Research
During the frequent design critiques within the team, I had many discussions with the team around design decisions. To make sure that our designs could achieve the desired outcomes, I took the chance to conducted rapid prototyping and lean research for insights when misalignments arose.
Always Aligning for the Huge Scope
For this complex cross-platform project, I established detailed user flow documentation and regular critique sessions. The design system became our shared language, ensuring consistency even as we worked in parallel on different features.
