Me/We Go
Design Strategy, Industrial Design, User Experience
Elevating the
ridesharing experience.
Designed by: McKinsey Design
Media Credit: McKinsey Design
This page is an adaptation of https://mobility.lunar.com/
Project Involvement: 6 months 2016/2017
As successful as ridesharing is today,
it only accounts for
less than 1% of total miles travelled
About
During my time as Creative Director at LUNAR / McKinsey Design I was leading one of several mobility initiatives to gain insights and provide our perspective on the rapidly evolving rideshare landscape. This six-month long collaborative effort between McKinsey & Co. and LUNAR aimed to bring together industry and market analytics, deep consumer insights, rigorous data surveys and design to explore growth opportunities.
Challenge
As successful as we have seen rideshare services grow across the globe, the reality in the USA in 2016 is that it only accounts for less than 1% of total miles* travelled.
Looking forward, the automotive and ridesharing industry have a significant opportunity to accelerate rideshare growth by unlocking new use cases, lowering costs for both drivers and passengers, and addressing the shortcomings of congestion and parking for commuters. Based on our research, the team imagined two near-term opportunities — MeGo & WeGo.
*McKinsey + LUNAR analysis of US Census data of VMT by trip type and regional demographics
Approach
This project was housed in an innovation garage space that was set up to allow for building and testing prototypes and open collaboration.
To better understand the current real-world shortcomings of ridesharing, in-person ride-alongs and conversations were conducted with riders, drivers, company and industry leaders. These insights and early concepts were enriched by in-depth analytics — understanding the financial potential of these ideas helped identify what would yield maximum impact. The project resulted in the exploration of 16 opportunity spaces, 3 focused directions, and 2 design concepts.
An affordable purpose-built vehicle interior optimized for ridesharing services.
A fully adaptable interior
MeGo’s easily reconfigurable interior accommodates wheelchairs, easy access for seniors and others with mobility challenges, and a size-adaptable child booster seat for using rideshare with kids. Transformable seating also allows for cargo delivery of larger items.
Front-and-center contextual display
The driver console features a centralized heads-up display (HUD) to consolidate multiple streams of critical driver content like the ability to accept rides, confirm routes, end a ride, evaluate a rider, and interior/exterior camera views.
Super-charged connectivity
A highly integrated in-app experience extends and enhances the rideshare experience. The rider has the option to take control of audio and environment conditions, and a rear seat display is provided to help riders avoid use of their mobile phone battery and data plan— in-vehicle connectivity includes both Wi-Fi and wireless charging.
A shared commuting service that is personal, convenient, and adaptable.
The power of 6
Census analysis shows that in many cities,
commute patterns are clustered—a vehicle that holds six people can
efficiently pick up and drop off neighbors with roughly similar work destination*.
*Census, LODES data; McKinsey analysis for a grid of 0.5 miles and commute distance greater than 10 miles.
Intelligent planning & routing
The WeGo ecosystem can handle every moment of your commuting journey. It features intelligent routing and the ability to tailor your ride to individual and group preferences—all before you get into the vehicle.
“
It’s more convenient to allow someone else to worry about the traffic and driving, allowing me to get my mind right and my tasks started for the day.
A First-Class cabin experience
WeGo considers an optimized experience for the many modes of your daily commute. The adjustable swivel seats allow passengers to be social or private; with ample workspace, Wi-Fi, power outlets, sound isolation, independent lighting, and other environmental controls that can adapt to one’s individual preference.
A look inside the garage
Below are images of the garage, process and team.
You can also read more about the project in the McKinsey & Company article
“Cracks in the ridesharing market — and how to fill them” – McKinsey Quarterly, July 2017
Team
Dane Anderson, Troy Baltic, Marcelle van Beusekom, Amal Chandaria, Kuen Chang, Rocio Garcia Villaverde, Taehun Ko, DK Lee, Eddie Licitra, John Loehr, David McGaw, Loriana Mitchell, Marie Noury, Nick Ross, Walter Thorn, Germain Verbrackel
Leadership / Asutosh Padhi, Aurobind Satpathy, Russell Hensley, Jeff Salazar