Automotus is a gov-tech company that works with city parking and transportation authorities to implement smart loading zones. However, due to strict curb regulations, scaling the product is challenging, requiring a strategic GTM bridge.
Timeline
8 Weeks
My Role
Resource
Through user research and synthesis, I found several pain points and opportunity spaces; notably within enforcement. For instance, drive-by enforcement is highly ineffective due to the 'catch me if you can' effect.
Realtime vehicle occupancy (RTO) feature is designed to make zone activity visible and actionable while highlighting the need for long term policy changes favoring smart curb management.
This feature was launched in Q3, 2024 across 3 cities and reduced CAC significantly while increasing operational efficiency for parking authorities by an average of 35%.
Smart curb management solutions reduce emissions, increase safety, and economic efficiency for cities. However, cities take alot of time to adopt new technologies due to their institutional operating procedures.
Interviewed parking authorities to understand operational challenges and obstacles deterring smart curb management solutions.
Upon visualizing the current workflows of parking authorities, we identified areas for improvement and opportunities for intervention. Several solutions were proposed and tested for desirability using wireframes and mock-ups. One idea was to provide visibility into the curb and boost enforcement efficiency through realtime violation detection.
Speed is very important in a startup environment. Our approach needed to be agile while involving users in the design process
Make glanceable information rich and relevant to the context
Elements must be intuitive and discovered information must be actionable
Data must be easily sharable with related external systems
There are trade-offs when setting accuracy threshold for real time information display. False events are un avoidable even with pareto optimal ML performance.
Displaying real time data requires information to be both: accurate and certain. Abstract information can lead to problems and bad user experience.
Since streets are constantly evolving, many edge cases can arise. Hence a scalable solution is required.
Teamed up with CV engineers to breakdown CV/ML pipeline and identify ways to resolve data population issue. Co-developed a functional accuracy framework based on the notion of "one size does NOT fit all"
While RTO feature was highly desired, it was unclear who'd benefit from it the most since enforcement managers, parking enforcers, and operations analysts, all worked closely with each other.
Collaborated with PM to define P0s and P1s
Proposed a long-term ideal workflow to PM to inform product road-map
Discussed priorities with PM + engineering and gathered buy-in on MVP PRD
Designing a layout that maximizes glanceability and allows the user to develop an accurate understanding of the system's status, current activity, and metrics is crucial for meeting user goals.
To help users focus on the right information, colors, states, and information hierarchy is vital. Next, the information must be useful and acted upon - requiring the need for proven interaction patterns.
User goals is kept that center of RTOs design. Each information and interaction must be relevant and simple.
Knowing the status of the system at given time is imperative to main situational awareness and operational efficiency.
The designs predominantly used components from our MUI design system. Additionally, annotations and callouts were added to aid engineers.
Due to the nature of this feature, only one new component was created - map markers.
