UniCar
UniCar is a shared transport service designed to make university commuting safer, more inclusive, and more socially connected for students, and this project extends the platform through the design of a conversational chatbot that streamlines key interactions such as booking rides, checking ETAs, and accessing campus information. By combining inclusive design principles with conversational UX and prototyping the system through Voiceflow, the project aims to create a low–cognitive load, human-centred experience that supports diverse student needs. Together, the UniCar app and chatbot work to reduce travel stress, improve accessibility, foster community, and provide a seamless end-to-end mobility experience that enhances student wellbeing and campus engagement.
Project Overview
TIMEFRAME
8 Weeks
Team Size: 4
MY ROLE
Chatbot Development, API Integration Lead, Voiceflow Prototyping, Conversation Flow Design, Accessibility-Focused Interaction Design, User Journey Mapping, Wireframing and Feature Scoping, Usability Testing and Iteration
TOOLS
Figma, VoiceFlow, ChatGPT API, Miro, Google Drive (Docs and Forms), Google Maps API
Problem Formulation
CLIENT MOTIVATIONS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
Transportation plays a vital role in connecting students to university life, especially those living far from campus. This makes reliable, safe, and accessible travel essential for their academic success, wellbeing, and sense of belonging. Research we conducted shows that student face mainly the following unmet transportation needs:
● Limited access to reliable and affordable transport options.
● Safety concerns, especially during late hours or in unfamiliar areas.
● A lack of social engagement with peers, contributing to a lower sense of belonging.
● Barriers to participation in campus life and academic activities due to long or complicated commutes, or disabilities.
INITIAL IDEAS AND "HOW MIGHT WE" QUESTIONS
Following these insights, our decision process began with a collaborative brainstorming session. This involved visually mapping out student scenarios based on the four personas as well as a more generalised perspective. These scenarios produced the starting point for generating a wide range of "How Might We” questions to help reframe challenges as opportunities for service innovation. These highlighted a variety of themes that our service would prioritise:
1. Accessibility for both digital and non-digital touch points: “How might we ensure the transport is accessible for those who require special assistance, e.g. wheelchair users”
2. Safety: “How might we create a familiar and reliable travel experience (to reduce anxiety for students navigating unfamiliar routes and
crowded public transport)?”
3. Convenience: “How might we reduce commute length for students?”
4. Eco-conscious: “How might we encourage environmentally conscious students to choose carpooling over solo driving?”
5. Cost aspects, including for both student passengers and student drivers: “How might we make driving more affordable for students by enabling cost-sharing”
6. Social aspects: “How might we create a more social experience through this shared transport?”
These considerations, along with the problem statement formualted above formed the backbone of our service proposal.
Ideation
In designing a shared transport service for students, our focus was on creating a solution that is safe, accessible, and socially engaging. Through user feedback and idea progression, we identified key features that personalize the experience and foster community connections.
ORIGINAL AND UPDATED SKETCHES
Feedback
The following is some of the main feedback we received from others for our original sketches, this:
POSITIVE
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Personalised categories for each user was well received as it allowed for a more tailored user
experience for customers wants and needs -
Filters for the accessibility makes it easier for students with specific needs to find a suitable ride option
SUGGESTED ADDITIONS
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Add an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) so students can plan ahead based on how much time it would take them to get there
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Some sort of rating system for the driver and the
passengers
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
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Expand on the social aspect, to meet new people and make new friends on trips
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Some added functionality to the "Events on Campus" section so students can see events they can attend on the university campus
Solution
UNICAR
Throughout the development of the UniCar shared transport service, our design evolved from solving basic mobility needs to creating a personalised, safe, and socially connected commuting experience for students. From the feedback and testing, our final service would be developed to have the following features.
Establishing Core Needs
Key Features
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Eco-Friendly Filter
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Accessibility Filters
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Personalised Ride Categories
Design Intent
Helps students tailor UniCar to their values, needs, and commute preferences.
PRIORITISING Safety & Comfort
Key Features
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Live Location Tracking
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Add Driver as Friend
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Invite Friends
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ETA Estimates
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Scheduled Trips
Design Intent
Promotes secure, predictable travel and reduces student anxiety.
STRENGTHENING Social Connection
Features Added:
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Rating System
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Friend Recommendations
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Events & Clubs Integration
Design Intent
Transform travel into a space for community building, not just a way to get from A to B.
Storyboard
UNICAR
After the original ideation, we reviewed feedback, analysed our ideas further, and created storyboards to visualise the user journey. This process helped us define our service design based on the user’s needs and highlighted areas for improvement.
This storyboard shows our initial concept, focusing on personalisation, safety and social connection.
This is the updated storyboard that reflects improvements based on user feedback. These include better accessibility, clearer tracking features and understanding arrival times, and more emphasis on building social networks.
Customer Journey Map
MAPPING OUT
TOUCHPOINTS
We then created a customer journey map to capture the full end-to-end student experience across all digital and real-world touchpoints. It includes discovering UniCar to booking, travelling, and post-ride interactions. This allowed us to visualise the channels involved, such as the app, notifications, location services, physical pick-up points, and in-ride moments, while also embedding accessibility considerations at each stage, ensuring that mobility, visual, hearing, and cognitive needs were supported throughout the journey.
Chatbot Project Introduction
CONVERSATIONAL UX DESIGN
Building on the original UniCar proposal, this project involved designing a conversational chatbot to improve key user interactions such as booking rides, checking ETAs, and accessing campus information. Created using Voiceflow for rapid conversational prototyping, the chatbot, called Hoppa (Helping Our Peers Plan Ahead) delivers a human-centred, low–cognitive load experience with a friendly persona and multimodal inputs to support diverse student needs. By integrating inclusive design principles with conversational UI, the prototype streamlines the UniCar journey, builds trust, and enhances accessibility across the service.
Chatbot Design and Development
For the scope of this project, we focused on developing wireframes in a mobile view. This decision was based on the understanding that the users would primarily access the UniCar service through their mobile device. Furthermore, we focused on developing wireframes for the core use cases in which the chatbot would be used, such as bookings and used in social aspects.
INITIAL WIREFRAMES - LOW FIDELITY
Our first design decision involved determining how the chatbot would be presented on the homepage, as this initial touchpoint shapes the users perception of the chatbot's purpose. We aimed to convey that the chatbot could assist with anything within the service and function as a full alternative to the main interface. The figure below showcases our early low-fidelity wireframes, which we used to test initial user impressions of the placement and way to actually access the chatbot.
To gather early feedback, we conducted an informal preference testing session with peers by showing each wireframe individually. Main observations were focused on if the participant could easily find the chatbot, if they found the location helpful or obvious, and also to suggest any improvements.
Comparison of 3 different ideas of how the chatbot will be presented on home page
(from left to right: in navbar, integrated within home page, floating button)
The feedback emphasised the need for balance between visibility and contextual relevance.
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While the center button stood out, it felt unfamiliar and disruptive.
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The navigation icon was clean and expected, but too hidden.
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The floating button was familiar yet sometimes cluttered the interface.
Overall, it highlighted that design should feel intuitive, purposeful, and distinct from competitiors, not just visually prominent.
INITIAL WIREFRAMES - HIGH FIDELITY
To further refine our design decisions, we developed and tested high-fidelity prototypes (see figure below) that brought visual styling, interactions, and layout refinements closer to the final product. This enabled us to assess not just placement but also visual weight, recognisability, and ease of use.
We repeated our informal preference testing approach with the following variations of our chatbot design (a floating action button, navigation icon, and embedded chatbot). This helped us to understand how visual context affected user engagement. These tests proved useful in our evaluation of how well each design communicated the chatbot’s role.
FINAL WIREFRAMES AND INTERACTION FLOW
We then created full wireframe flows to demonstrate how our chatbot could be used as a digital touchpoint in the user journey.
The above figure showcases the final design, structured to emphasise on both functionality and user engagement.
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A top search bar allows users to quickly enter destinations and book rides easily.
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The “Pick Your Perfect Ride” section offers filters like eco-friendly, pet-friendly, and accessible options.
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A chat and chatbot section provides instant support and reinforces UniCar’s community-focused approach.
The homepage balances efficiency with inclusivity, making it easy for a diverse student user base to find rides tailored to them while keeping helpful resources within easy reach.
The above figure shows how we split the chatbot into two clear sections to help users find what they need faster. “Book a Ride” offers a direct, streamlined path for entering trip details, while “General Q&A” handles broader support questions like pricing, features, and account help. This separation reduces confusion, shortens the user journey, and ensures the chatbot delivers more accurate, goal-aligned responses.
Separating the chatbot into “Book a Ride” and “General Q&A” also enhances accessibility by reducing cognitive effort and simplifying navigation. Clear, distinct options help users with cognitive disabilities or limited digital literacy quickly understand where to go. By guiding users into focused, goal-based flows, the chatbot becomes more inclusive and easier to use for a broader audience.
Further Developments
While Hoppa successfully demonstrates the potential of a conversational assistant within UniCar, there are some clear areas for future development. One of the primary challenges stemmed from the limitations of the Voiceflow platform, specifically impacting Hoppa’s flexibility and accessibility. For example, we were unable to allow the user to select multiple buttons at once which disrupted the consistency of utilising buttons as user inputs. Furthermore, we experienced some difficulty with non-linear flows (e.g. changing answers mid-conversation), which could be further improved through our confidence with Voiceflow itself.
Finally, there were some accessibility limitations, such as restricted screen reader compatibility and voice-recognition aspects, which could be focused on when fully developing and implementing the UniCar service and Hoppa. Overall, prioritising ongoing improvements in accessibility and personalisation is an important step to ensuring that all students can navigate the service confidently and independently. Truly fulfilling UniCar and Hoppa’s mission: to Help Our Peers Plan Ahead.