Experiential Perspectives on Road Congestions

Abstract

Commuting can be perceived as both ‘relaxing’ and ‘stressful’. An important cause for stress is getting stuck in traffic, which can – especially when unexpected – quickly turn commuting into a negative experience, often associated with frustration and the feeling of wasting time. Congestion experiences do not need to be frustrating and annoying. In our research, we aim to generate design solutions for turning the negative experiences into positive ones. We foster the experiential perspective on road congestions, and go beyond current automotive HCI research, which mainly focuses on safety, functionality, and usability. In this paper, we present our work-in progress on characterizing congestion experiences and needs, explored in a design workshop outlining future design directions for supporting positive experiences.