Product Sense: Door-to-Door Car Travel for People Who Are Blind

Design a car for people who are blind. Explain whom you are designing for, what they need from the product, which features you would build first, and how you would judge whether it works. ```hint Follow the whole trip Many of the hardest moments for a rider who cannot see happen outside the drive itself. Walk through a trip from planning it to reaching the destination's door, and look for every step where today's cars assume the person can see. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the car drive itself entirely, should the blind person take part in driving, or does a sighted driver operate it, as in a ride service? - Is this a car the person owns, or a vehicle they hail or share when they need a trip? - Does the scope cover only the vehicle, or the whole trip, including booking, finding the car at pickup and getting from the curb to the destination? - Which riders are in scope: people with no functional vision, people with low vision, and people who are both deaf and blind? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear position on who controls the vehicle, with the safety and legal reasoning behind it. - Segmentation of blind and low-vision riders and a justified focus. - Pain points across the full trip, including the moments before boarding and after leaving the car. - Prioritized features that work without sight, with fallbacks for when automation or the rider's phone fails. - Success metrics with safety and trust guardrails, plus the main launch risks. ### Follow-up Questions - The car cannot reach the requested drop-off point because of road works. How should it handle this for a rider who cannot see the surroundings? - How would you involve blind riders in research and testing, and what would you measure in the first pilot? - How would the design change for a rider who is both deaf and blind?