Mercedes-Benz Magic Hack

Over a weekend in June 2015, I showed up at GSVlabs in Redwood City (by myself), so join a team and hack away at some amazing ideas that empower the Mercedes-Benz brand.

The team I was on pitched an idea to create a service that allows Mercedes-Benz (MB) drivers to avoid road hazards to make their driving experience more comfortable, safer, and unique to each driver. Information would be gathered from the network of MB vehicles based on current data the cars track like speed, acceleration, traction, temperature, suspension changes, and front & rear cameras to estimate the location of road hazards to share to the rest of the MB network so they can avoid a dangerous situation: flooded roads, fallen tree, potholes, rough roads, etc.

I worked on the design for this feature, keeping things simple and easy to understand with a limited HUD, large icons, and bright colors so that hazards can be displayed to the user in an easily digestible way to reduce the need for users to take their eyes away from the road.