MySubaru

Bringing the convenience of remote start to your wrist.

Remote start functionality for smartwatches was first introduced to the market in 2014 and has only gained popularity since then. With the global smartwatch sales skyrocketing in 2019, the importance of integrating smartwatch functionality into the automotive industry became vital. Most vehicle brands are offering remote start functionality on smartwatches. My Subaru is one of the outliers, only offering a smartphone connected app despite demand for a smartwatch app.

Smartwatch Integration

Project Type

Research

UX Design

Prototyping

Scope

Figma

Google Suite

Goodnotes

Tools

2 weeks

70 hours

Timeline

View Prototype

The Problem

MySubaru is lacking smartwatch connectivity, a major feature that other car manufacturers have implemented years ago.

The Objective

Develop a smartwatch version of the MySubaru app to increase usability for Subaru drivers and improve Subaru's placement in automotive tech.

The future of wearable tech in the automotive industry is significant ranging from virtual keys to wellness monitoring while driving. As other car brands develop and implement further tech, MySubaru continues to fall behind.

The Process

Discovery

This discovery phase began with secondary research. Starting with research allowed me to uncover trends within automotive tech and assess the business and user value of implementing multi-device support for the app.

I then utilized user surveys to allow me to grasp qualitative and quantitative data regarding how users currently interact with remote start features and their perception regarding the convenience of each auto-start method.

With secondary research completed and my survey gathering responses, I utilized an in depth competitive analysis to see what features each vehicle connected app has, if they offer multi-device support, and the UX and UI design of each smartphone and smartwatch app.

What does the research say?

The integration of smartwatch functionality into the automotive industry became important with the rise of global smartwatch sales in 2019. Most auto dealers currently offer basic features such as remote start/stop, lock/unlock, and honking the horn. They've only broken the surface of potential wearable tech integration with vehicles. Here are some potential features that could be developed:

Wireless key fobs (including owners being able to grant access to other drivers for specific periods of time)
Remote specific settings - vehicles offer driver preferences like mirror and seat placement, radio presets, and more. When you start the vehicle from your device, your driver preferences are set for the vehicle.
Wellness reminders for drivers (ex. recommending a route with less traffic when the driver is showing signs of stress)

What is the competition doing with their connected apps?

The most important thing to note from the competitive analysis is that MySubaru is the only connected app that isn’t offering smartwatch connectivity. This places Subaru at the bottom of the list in terms of features and functions.

But, how do they fare in terms of UX and UI? Unfortunately, MySubaru isn't taking home the gold star here either. While HondaLink, Nissan Connect, MyGMC, MyChevrolet, and Fordpass are all offering well designed mobile apps with consistent branding, easy navigation, and helpful functions and feature, My Subaru is presenting a confusing user experience and a disjointed UI. From a UX perspective, MySubaru is lacking clear navigation, they have too many menus, and small buttons.

Looking at the UX and UI of the watch designs, it’s clear that a simplistic approach was taken. All of the app designs feature very basic buttons with minimal design. The focus is simply on autostart functions, and there is an overall lack of integration between the mobile app and the watch app.

What are consumer's perceptions of remote start functionality?

My next step was to start researching users. For this, I opted to utilize user surveys to understand trends and perceptions regarding remote start functionality in their vehicles. I received 98 responses from users.

Vehicles offer many options for remote start. I wanted to know how consumers would rate each of these start methods. They rated each method's convenience on a scale of 1-5. This shows how each method ranked in terms of their level 5 convenience scores:

Phone App (60.2%)
Smartwatch (51%)
Button on Key (38.8%)
Voice Assistant (24.5%)

Since smartwatch connectivity was something that was lacking for MySubaru, I wanted to assess if smartwatch connectivity was a gimmick, or something that people would actually use. If they would use it, what features would they want access to?

Chart showing how people rate the conveneince of remote start on a watch

Chart showing what features people would want on their smartwatch.

So what exactly does all of that research mean?

As technology advances, it's clear that smartwatch integration with vehicles is something that will only continue to develop and become more standard and expected. Through User Surveys it became clear that consumers value remote start functionality from their smartphones most, but a close second is from their smartwatch. On their smartwatch, the most important features for them to be able to access are autostart, lock/unlock, and climate control. MySubaru is the only vehicle connected app that isn’t offering smartwatch connectivity features. For this reason, I will take the step into developing a smartwatch connection feature for the MySubaru App.

How might we integrate smartwatch features into the MySubaru app so that Subaru can have a more competitive feature set and users have a more cohesive user experience?

What does smartwatch integration look like?

The watchOS app for MySubaru would function as a companion app to the iOS version. By implementing it this way, data will transfer between the iOS app and the watchOS seamlessly. Here is an example of what that flow would look like:

Download the MySubaru app on your iPhone and connect it to your vehicle.
On your iPhone, open the Watch app.
Scroll to the "Available Apps" section to view the iPhone apps that have Apple Watch versions.
Tap Install to add the app to your watch.

Moving forward with a solution

Through research and surveys, it was clear that there were three main features that would be most useful for vehicle owners to have access to.

Remote Start/Stop
Remote Lock/Unlock
Adjusting Climate Settings

In addition, for owners of multiple Subarus, they should be able to easily switch between which vehicle they are controlling.

Change Vehicle User Flow

Remote Start User Flow

Remote Lock User Flow

Remote Climate Start User Flow

Create a Climate Preset User Flow

Due to the simplicity of the user flows, all of these will be developed for the final prototype. The true challenge here is creating clear designs and actions that function well on a limited screen size.

Visualizing a User Focused Design

Through low-fi wireframing I began to attach design concepts and patterns that could potentially work for this responsive design.

Some specific design considerations that came up with creating the low and mid-fidelity wireframes.

We want to minimize the number of misclicks, so screens shouldn't be cluttered.
We don't want to create too many features for the smartwatch to the point that it becomes useless. We need to design main actions.
Due to the limited screen size, we need to be clear with how we're relaying information and system actions.

Let's open Figma and get this to mid-fidelity.

When shifting to mid-fidelty, it was clear that my low-fidelity designs had too many buttons and needed to be simplified.

Home 1

Too busy
Awkward garage placement

Home 2

Too busy
Garage feels more natural

Home 3

Too busy
Awkward garage placement

Home 4

Screen is less crowded
Garage design works
Need better spacing

Garage 1

Side swipe limits ability to see other vehicles

Garage 2

Scrolling allows you to see other vehicles available.
Takes advantage of watch crown

Climate Start

Climate Preset

Need to be mindful of touchpoint sizes

Using Subaru's established branding and design from the MySubaru app, it was time to work on creating high fidelity wireframes. Since the iOS version of MySubaru is a light theme, watchOS only feature dark themes, some adaptions had to be made.

Creating the first draft of the design

MySubaru iOS app (unchanged)

MySubaru watchOS app

(my design)

As you can see, micro-animations are working double duty here to convey system actions. Without them, the watchOS app would not only be visually bland, but it would be unclear when user actions have been completed.

Refining the Experience Through Testing

I performed usability tests with 5 users to determine the necessary revisions to make the experience more intuitive and pleasant.

Average error rate while navigating all of the user flows.

10%

Average score for overall desirability of the product.

4.96 out of 5

Said they would prefer this over using their phone.

80%

Priority Revisions from the Usability Tests

Clearer indication after a start request has been sent that the vehicle is currently running.
Clearer verbiage in the climate start flow to indicate whether or not the "send request" button starts the vehicle with a climate setting, or just sends the climate setting for the next time you start.
Increase lock and climate icons for easier readability.

A closer look at the edits

First Version of Animation

Final Version of Animation

Updated Start/Stop animation shows the green ring around the button to easily signify that the vehicle is running.
Icons for the climate and lock buttons were enlarged.

The Final Prototype

Home Features Demo

Creating a Climate Preset Demo

View Prototype

Final Thoughts and Future Considerations

This project is a true testament to the power of micro-animations. While they may sometimes appear to detract from a product's design and functionality, they can also serve as a valuable tool for communicating critical information to users. For smartwatch design, finding innovative ways to convey information is essential, as users don't want to read lengthy texts on a tiny watch screen.

One of the main considerations I had while designing for MySubaru was weather to redesign their iOS app. Due to the gravity of that product, I decided to focus my efforts on perfecting the watchOS version of the app. With more time, I would like the challenge of updating the UX and UI of the iOS app.

I'm excited to see the future of how we can integrate the advancements of wearable and automotive tech. This is simply the beginning of functionality that would bring MySubaru on par with it's competitors.