Hertz | jennscheller

Hertz Redesign

Employing self-driving cars to become relevant in the ride-share economy.

Anchor 1

Challenge

Hertz has been the largest car rental service in the US for 100 years. Since the immersion of the rideshare economy, Hertz has been losing business in the one to two-day rentals. Hertz wants to become relevant in the rideshare economy.

Approach

Solution

My Responsibilities
User Research, User Testing, Concept Ideation, Rapid Prototyping

Concept Ideation
From messenger driven cars to solar cars, and finally the pivot to self-driving cars.

Product Management
I aided our group to keep the project on track and moving forward.

Visual Design

I was responsible for 75% of the wireframes and prototypes

Wanting to leapfrog the competition, our team decided to use self-driving cars with RFID technology to create a user experience that would not only delight in service but also to be economically and environmentally friendly. This service would put a stop to the endless driving around the block to find a parking space. The user would never need to remember where you parked the car again. The car would just need to be recalled when the user is ready to go.

Anchor 2

2-week sprint with team for mid-level deliverables
1-week sprint solo for higher fidelity prototype

3 UX Designers

Non-Directed Interviews, Surveys, Card Sorts, and Useability Testing

Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop Invision, Sketch, Pen, Paper

DURATION

TEAM

METHOD

TOOLS

Anchor 3

Research

We found that our customers wanted a service that valued:

Convenience (pick up/drop off, no lines, etc)
Clarity in price structure
Diversity in services (long distance and short-term)
Genuine customer service
Compassion to mankind and environment

Anchor 4

Persona Development

Our primary user was passionate, environmentally conscious, and cared about the drivers of Uber and Lyft.

Our user wants quick access to quality vehicles and customer service that cares when things go wrong but do not want surprise charges.

Joey doesn’t want surprise charges, she wants quick access to quality vehicles and customer service that cares when things go wrong.

First Iteration: Bike Messengers for Cars

Our first concept was to alleviate the stress of finding a parking spot in an urban environment.

We decided to solve this problem by having a cyclist drive the car to the user's home and drop off the car, then take the bike off the attached bike rack and cycle back to the office. This solution would solve the problem of having to collect the car from destinations unknown, was ecological and prevented any parking issues.

We discovered that the bike messenger for cars system worried our users. They were greatly concerned for the safety of the cyclists riding around at night and in poor weather. They also did not want to pay for a car that had an ugly bike rack on the back of the car.

Second Iteration: Pivot In Concept

Back to the drawing board!

We gathered to do a design studio to come up with additional ideas. Some of our more adventurous ideas were solar powered buildings that powered electric cars, solar powered cars, and car elevators for parking woes. Through a collaborative discussion, we came up with the idea of self-driving cars.

Third Iteration: Imagining the Future

By developing a service for the near future, we knew that we wanted the location aspect to reflect apps that are widely used today to maintain a level of familiarity and comfort as the new service is being rolled out.

How you interact with the vehicle is what needed to be streamlined. We decided to go with a barcode scan and touch ID to gain access to the vehicle.

Fourth Iteration: Back to the Beginning

As we continued to develop this new service, we went back to the beginning of our user interviews to look at the original pain points of using rideshare services.

Parking in an urban environment is always a nightmare. With our new Hertz cars, we wanted to add a self-parking feature. Once our user arrives at their destination they will be prompted with a "Park & Lock" and "End Trip" call to action buttons. These features will be the crossover of a traditional ride share and a short-term rental service.

"Park & Lock" will drop the user off at their destination. Then, find a parking spot on its own while allowing the user to leave packages or personal belongings in the vehicle.

"End Trip" will simply drop the user off, send the user a transaction receipt, and go onto the next request.