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Beyond Driving: Envisioning Activities in Future Autonomous Vehicles through Experience-Centered Design

Keqi Chen, Xiao Xue, Xinyi Liu, Runjia Tan, Chris Speed, Lee Kwan Min, Chen Lv

arXiv:2609.30076v1cs.HC

TL;DR

Research on future AV activities has limited evidence about how NDRAs relate to varied travel contexts and daily routines. This study uses experience-centered design and participatory scenarios grounded in lived experience. It finds that NDRAs are context-shaped activity sequences, while FAVs are negotiated as sociotechnical spaces.

  • Problem

    Research has limited understanding of how future AV activities relate to variable travel contexts and people’s broader daily routines.

    Source: §1 · p. 2, §2.2 · pp. 3–4

  • Method

    The study uses experience-centered design with sensitization, participant-authored scenarios, and mixed-reality enactment to explore potential NDRAs in lived contexts.

    Source: §1 · p. 2, §7 · p. 23

  • Results

    NDRAs are dynamic sequences shaped by pre- and post-journey contexts, while participants negotiate FAV privacy, behavior, trust, empowerment, and constraints.

    Source: §7 · p. 23

  • Takeaways & Limitations

    The findings support understanding FAVs as sociotechnical mediators, a perspective surfaced through reflective tools and embodied enactment.

    Source: §7 · p. 23

    The qualitative study’s nine purposively sampled participants prioritize depth over statistical generalizability and may not represent AV users beyond varied backgrounds and Singapore.

    Source: §6 · p. 22

Abstract

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Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are poised to fundamentally alter personal transportation, offering occupants the freedom to engage in various non-driving-related activities (NDRAs). However, our current understanding of how people might actually use this time in fully autonomous vehicles (FAVs) is limited. Traditional research methods often struggle to capture the influence of diverse travel circumstances and purposes when exploring future scenarios. This paper introduces experience-centered design (ECD) as an approach to investigate potential NDRAs within FAVs by examining the intricate connections between individuals' daily routines, specific travel contexts, and the activities they might undertake in transit. Through a multi-phase study employing participatory techniques that facilitated narrative construction and exploration, including diary studies, scenario scripting, and mixed reality (MR) enactments, we enabled participants to ground speculative future scenarios in their own lived experiences. This process yielded nuanced insights into preferences and behaviors concerning potential NDRAs, alongside the underlying subjective meanings and sociotechnical considerations. Our findings lead us to conceptualize NDRAs not as isolated instances of "travel time use," but as dynamic sequences of interrelated activities deeply shaped by pre- and post-journey contexts. The effectiveness of our ECD approach in bridging current lived experiences with future scenarios was crucial for uncovering these insights. Ultimately, this study reconceptualizes AVs as complex sociotechnical systems that actively mediate human activity and interaction, suggesting a fundamental shift in their role within the urban fabric.

1 Introduction

Research on future AV activities has not sufficiently connected non-driving-related activities (NDRAs) to the varied contexts of travel and daily routines. The study uses experience-centered design to ground future scenarios in lived experience and reconceptualizes NDRAs as context-shaped activity sequences.

1 Introduction

  • The paper situates its inquiry in the shift from driving to passenger roles and the possibility of reallocating time previously spent driving.The introduction describes this shift as “passengerisation”.Source: §1 · p. 1
  • Conventional stated-intention methods may not connect unfamiliar future AV activities to participants’ lived experiences, while generalized scenarios may miss their daily activity patterns.The paper calls for participatory, context-sensitive exploration grounded in participants’ own lives.Source: §1 · p. 2
  • The study uses experience-centered design, a three-phase process, and an AV cabin with mixed-reality scenarios to connect participants’ travel experiences with potential NDRAs.The process includes pre-workshop sensitization, scriptwriting, and scene enactment.Source: §1 · p. 2
  • The authors present the Journey Canvas and a process of sensitization, storytelling, and embodied enactment as ways to ground future scenarios in lived experience.They report that these methods revealed patterns and insights about potential AV interactions.Source: §1 · p. 2
  • The study reconceptualizes NDRAs as dynamic sequences shaped by broader temporal and spatial contexts, rather than isolated instances of travel-time use.These sequences connect travel with pre- and post-journey activities and routines.Source: §1 · p. 2
  • The paper frames AVs as complex sociotechnical systems that may mediate experiences and interactions within the city.This perspective highlights the interplay of technology, context, and human values.Source: §1 · p. 2

2 Related Work

Related work frames travel as embedded in daily activity patterns and shows that anticipated AV activities vary with travel context. It also identifies a need for participatory, embodied methods that connect future AV scenarios to people’s lived experience.

2.1 Paradigm Shift: From "Travel-based Activity" to "Activity-based Travel"

  • Activity-based travel perspectives treat travel as embedded in daily activity patterns, while trip-based approaches foreground discrete journeys and activities during travel as secondary.The literature describes travel as derived from activity needs and shaped by time, financial, and social constraints.Source: §2.1 · pp. 2–3

2.2 NDRAs in AVs: Contextual Insights and Methods

  • Anticipated AV activities vary with trip purpose, schedules, and routines, but existing methods struggle to embed speculative journeys in participants’ complex daily lives.Stated-intention methods risk speculative responses, while simulations can be limited by vehicle design and session duration.Source: §2.2 · pp. 3–4

2.3 Experience-Centered Design for Envisioning Future AV Experiences

  • Experience-centered design links past, present, and future through situated, holistic experience, making it relevant to exploring NDRAs in participants’ daily contexts.The paper adopts ECD to connect current routines and travel habits with envisioned future AV activities.Source: §2.3 · p. 4

3 Methodology

The methodology uses experience-centered design to move from participants’ current travel experiences toward future AV scenarios. It combines recruitment, diary-based sensitization, scenario scripting and enactment, and iterative qualitative analysis.

3 Methodology

  • The study applies an activity-based travel perspective and experience-centered design across phases that progress from current experiences toward envisioned future scenarios.The approach treats AV travel as connected to people’s daily activity patterns and routines.Source: §3 · p. 5

3.1 Phase 1: Participant Recruitment

  • Purposive and snowball sampling yielded nine participants selected for varied travel-relevant characteristics, rather than statistical diversity.Selection considered age, occupation, travel modes, and journey purposes.Source: §3.1 · p. 5

3.2 Phase 2: Sensitization

  • During one week of sensitization, the Journey Canvas documented pre-journey, en-route, and post-journey activities, feelings, and context to inform later scriptwriting.Its prompts encouraged reflection on how travel connected with surrounding activities.Source: §3.2 · pp. 5–6

3.3 Phase 3: Participatory Workshop

  • Participants wrote three future AV travel scripts, selected two for mixed-reality enactment, and reflected on their actions and needs in post-enactment interviews.White cards let participants indicate desired devices, interfaces, or functions and where they should be placed.Source: §3.3 · pp. 6–7

3.4 Data Analysis

  • The analysis used thematic coding across scripts, enactments, and interviews, with participant timelines tracing how NDRA ideas and contextual needs evolved.Researchers examined enacted behavior, card placement, improvisation, and interview reflections.Source: §3.4 · pp. 7, 8, 10

4 Findings

Findings frame NDRAs as context-shaped activity sequences and AVs as spaces negotiated through users’ experiences, needs, and sociotechnical realities. Enactments and interviews surfaced both possibilities for activity and constraints on realizing them.

4.1 Envisioning NDRA and FAV Scenarios with ECD

  • Enactments and follow-up inquiry surfaced unplanned behaviors, embodied responses, accessibility needs, and how participants’ prior attitudes shaped their engagement with imagined FAVs.Interviews also elicited personal meanings, including motion-sickness constraints, service expectations, and the emotional effects of mobility impairment.Source: §4.1 · pp. 10–11
  • Participants also imagined using FAVs as personal spaces for activities beyond commuting, including work, socializing, and even stationary or holiday-room uses.Some described unconventional in-car behaviors as possible because the FAV felt like “being in my space.”Source: §4.1 · p. 11

4.2 Artificial Scenarios: Endorsements and Critiques as Resources for Envisioning

  • The cabin and MR environment made future behavior more tangible, while mismatches in scenes, motion-related discomfort, and cabin proportions prompted critiques and design suggestions.Participants also raised sensory and comfort preferences, including interior smells and seating.Source: §4.2 · p. 12

4.3 The Multifaceted Nature of NDRAs in Future FAVs

  • NDRAs reflect three connected themes: interrelated activities, pre- and post-journey contexts, and the relationship between activities and AV space.Together, the themes support a holistic, context-aware understanding that extends beyond the immediate journey.Source: §4.3 · p. 12
  • Journeys often combine a primary NDRA with supporting activities, and people adapt their sequence to changing needs, including pausing digital communication while moving to avoid motion sickness.Examples include music supporting rest or mood management and movement helping counter lethargy.Source: §4.3 · pp. 12, 14
  • Travel purpose and events before or after a journey shape in-car activities; participants also described travel time as a buffer for preparing for what comes next.Sleep loss, fatigue, appointments, and work or social plans were among the contexts participants connected to their choices.Source: §4.3 · p. 14
  • Participants imagined moving activities into AVs or reshaping vehicle space around them, but available space and motion sickness could constrain those choices.Some envisioned the AV itself as a destination for activities rather than merely transport.Source: §4.3 · p. 14

4.4 Navigating Sociotechnical Boundaries: User Experiences with Future FAVs

  • Expectations of FAVs involved negotiations around privacy, surveillance, safety, trust, accessibility, and autonomy, shaped by social and cultural contexts.Participants linked perceived safety to technical reliability, physical comfort, social presence, and institutional accountability; economic conditions also shaped ownership expectations.Source: §4.4 · p. 15

5 Discussion

The discussion examines how experience-centered methods make future AV scenarios concrete and reveal nuanced user experiences, framing NDRAs as context-shaped sequences and FAVs as mediators of human-city experience. It considers implications for holistic, context-sensitive mobility research and design, including social and urban concerns, emerging mobility practices, and interdisciplinary questions.

5.1.1 Scenario Materialization: Redefining Scenario Methods in Autonomous Vehicle Research

  • Physical cabins, MR overlays, and participatory scripts make AV scenarios multisensory, surfacing tacit bodily concerns, linking familiar routines to futures, and revealing context-bound conflicts among needs.The discussion notes that bodily responses require cautious interpretation, since looking around was attributed to curiosity about the virtual world rather than travel observation.Source: §5.1.1 · pp. 16–17
  • Materialized scenarios prompted spontaneous participant ideas and, for some, greater understanding and acceptance of AVs, though creative engagement was not uniform.Participants proposed concepts such as in-vehicle fitness equipment and mobile bars; some said the immersive experience changed their views on autonomous driving.Source: §5.1.1 · p. 17

5.1.2 Enactment as a Powerful Futuring Technique in AV Research

  • Enactment turns abstract AV concepts into concrete experiences, supporting participants’ gradual engagement and reflection on emotional, accessibility, privacy, and wider social implications.The transition could involve hesitation or skepticism and should be understood as adaptation and critical reimagining, not simply acceptance of AV technology.Source: §5.1.2 · pp. 18–19

5.1.3 Multidimensional Data: Unveiling the Complexity of Future AV Experiences

  • Progressive scripts, enactments, artifacts, and interviews exposed embodied needs and mismatches between participants’ words and behavior, while timeline visualization supported cross-stage analysis.The mismatches included expressed trust alongside discomfort during enactments; combining physical activities and creative tasks also illuminated visceral, behavioral, and reflective needs.Source: §5.1.3 · pp. 19–20

5.2 Reframing NDRAs in Autonomous Vehicles

  • NDRAs in FAVs unfold as interrelated activity sequences shaped by travel situations, while travelers actively use travel time as a buffer between life contexts.This challenges treating in-vehicle activities as discrete tasks and suggests that adaptable spaces and controls may need to support overlapping activities.Source: §5.2 · p. 20

5.3 Beyond Function: Discussing the Sociotechnical Significance of FAVs

  • FAVs emerge as hybrid relational spaces where privacy, decorum, and embodied, institutionally grounded trust are negotiated, while their benefits and access remain constrained by economic and local contexts.The discussion warns that unequal access may reinforce existing inequalities and argues for context-sensitive approaches rather than generic FAV solutions.Source: §5.3 · p. 21

5.4 Towards a New Paradigm of Human-City Interaction? Implications for Research and Design

  • The authors link participants’ negotiations of FAV space, trust, and contextual constraints to the possibility of a fundamental paradigm shift in understanding mobility.The supplied discussion begins to frame this shift as moving beyond viewing travel simply, but does not provide the remainder of that claim in this section part.Source: §5.4 · p. 21, §5.3 · p. 21
  • FAVs may become dynamic mediators in the human-city relationship, with mobility, space, context, and lived experience deeply interwoven.The discussion concludes that autonomous mobility should be developed as a means to support richer, more equitable, and more meaningful urban lives.Source: §5.4 · p. 22
  • Research and design should move beyond functional optimization toward holistic travel experiences that foreground emotional, social, and embodied dimensions.This approach resonates with Third Wave HCI and frames FAVs within a human-vehicle-home ecosystem.Source: §5.4 · p. 22
  • People may need new sociotechnical competencies and mobility practices for blending activities, managing boundaries, interacting with vehicle systems, and using mobility for well-being.Understanding these practices and the social norms and etiquettes they may entail is identified as a critical area for future inquiry.Source: §5.4 · p. 22
  • An interdisciplinary agenda should examine adaptive in-vehicle experiences for shifting activity sequences and context-aware systems that support activities, ambiance, and transitions while addressing trust and privacy.The agenda spans HCI, transportation studies, urban planning, and social sciences.Source: §5.4 · p. 22
  • Future work should explore FAVs as mobile activity platforms affecting work-life patterns, social interaction, accessibility, and public-private space, alongside their co-evolution with urban form, policy, and social equity.The discussion calls for guiding development toward mobility justice and human well-being rather than worsening existing inequalities.Source: §5.4 · p. 22

6 Limitations

The study prioritizes qualitative depth over statistical generalizability, with further limits from its simulated setting and prospective focus.

6 Limitations

  • Nine purposively sampled participants, primarily from a university context, limit statistical generalizability across populations and settings.The discussions were implicitly framed by Singapore, and the sample may not represent other socio-economic strata, cultural backgrounds, or locations.Source: §6 · p. 22
  • A stationary cabin mock-up with mixed reality differs from actual vehicular motion, potentially affecting behavior and translation to real-world deployment.Some participants reported motion sickness in the simulation.Source: §6 · p. 22
  • The study captures envisioned possibilities at one point in time, which may change as AV familiarity evolves or diverge from eventual adoption.The authors identify longitudinal research as a way to track changing perceptions, expectations, and desired activities.Source: §6 · p. 22

7 Conclusion

The paper uses experience-centered design to explore how FAV travel fits into daily life. It finds that activities and the meanings of FAVs are shaped by context.

7 Conclusion

  • Experience-centered design combines Journey Canvases, participant-authored scenarios grounded in lived experience, and embodied mixed-reality enactment.Reflective tools and enactment helped surface context-integrated activities and FAVs as sociotechnical mediators.Source: §7 · p. 23
  • NDRAs are typically dynamic sequences of interrelated activities shaped by daily routines, schedules, emotional states, goals, and pre- and post-journey contexts.Participants also reimagined vehicle space as a transitional or preparatory zone, bringing activities from other domains into the journey.Source: §7 · p. 23
  • FAVs raise sociotechnical negotiations around privacy, behavior, and trust, while participants weigh possible empowerment against socio-economic and contextual constraints.The paper concludes that AV adoption and meaning are context-dependent and locally negotiated.Source: §7 · p. 23
  • The findings support understanding automated mobility as a lived experience and designing with attention to technology, individual lives, and societal structures.The authors describe this perspective as relevant to meaningful, equitable, and well-integrated urban futures.Source: §7 · p. 23
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