Convoy
Most vehicles are designed around one driver. Most adventures aren’t.
Our team partnered with General Motors to explore how connected vehicles could support something they rarely account for—groups of people traveling together. Instead of designing another in-vehicle feature, we imagined a connected experience that begins before anyone starts the engine, supports the group on the road, and continues after everyone arrives.
Role
Product Designer · HMI Designer
Timeline
August 2025 - December 2025
Organization
GM Affiliated Class Project
Tools
Figma — auto layout, variants, interactive prototyping
The trip doesn’t happen inside the truck. It moves between phones, vehicle displays, and memories—so the product couldn’t live on a single screen.
The challenge
Every road trip starts in a group chat.
Before the first mile is driven, the trip already lives across half a dozen places—someone shares the campground, someone builds the playlist, someone is running late. Once the convoy starts moving, coordination gets harder: drivers switch between messaging apps, calls, and navigation just to stay together. The surprising part? Every driver is sitting inside a connected vehicle. The journey itself still isn't connected.
The problem in its native habitat: the group chat where every trip actually begins.
Who we designed for
Planning the adventure should not be harder than the adventure.
Off-road groups coordinate through disconnected texts, maps, calls, and vehicle systems. Plans fragment before departure, and staying aware while driving adds distraction. We designed for the social adventure driver: a technology-comfortable truck owner who regularly travels with friends and wants the vehicle to support the group—not become another system to manage.
Meet John, the social adventure driver from our interviews. Goal: keep the group coordinated. Friction: planning, route changes, and communication live across disconnected tools.
The pivot
We didn't start with community. Our first direction was biometric sensors.
It was technically interesting—and it was wrong. The pivot to community wasn't a brainstorm output; it came from our interviews with truck drivers. Killing four weeks of work taught me the difference between a concept that's impressive and a concept that's needed.
The canvas for the new direction: the 2030 Silverado EV Trail Boss.
Competitive analysis
The best in-vehicle experiences solve the driver. None solve the group.
Rivian, Lucid, and the Hummer EV each handle single-driver awareness well—contextual modes, clear hierarchy, terrain visibility. Group coordination stays unsolved. Flip each card for the takeaway.
The reframe
We stopped thinking about the truck. We started thinking about the weekend.
Instead of asking how to improve the vehicle interface, we stepped back and looked at the entire experience. Every trip naturally unfolded in three moments—so instead of designing isolated features, we designed around them.
Before the drive
Planning. Inviting friends. Choosing routes. Preparing vehicles.
During the drive
Staying together. Communicating safely. Knowing when plans change.
After the drive
Saving memories. Planning the next adventure.
One experience, not one interface: the trip moves between phones, vehicle displays, and memories — the product connects every stage without making people think about which device they're using.
Before the drive
One shared plan instead of six scattered conversations.
Planning already happens on a phone—we didn't want to change that. Drivers create trips, invite friends, build convoys, and confirm vehicle readiness before anyone gets behind the wheel. By moving planning outside the truck, the in-vehicle experience stays focused on driving instead of setup.
Planning belongs where people already organize their lives.
During the drive
Once the convoy starts moving, priorities change.
The drive is when the group needs each other most and can afford attention least. Early layouts showed everything—full route, every vehicle, messages—and read like a second phone mounted in the truck. We cut the in-drive view down to position, gap, and convoy status; everything else moved to before or after the drive. We rejected in-drive text messaging and full map manipulation while moving, because both pull the driver's eyes off the road.
The center display becomes a shared command center: communication shifts from phones to the vehicle.
The convoy host
Every group already has an organizer. We didn't invent the role - we recognized it.
Every driver wanted a say—route changes, stop requests, who's falling behind. But "everyone can edit the plan mid-drive" looked like the group-chat chaos we were trying to kill, moved into the dashboard. So the convoy gets a host: one person owns the route and roster; everyone else gets full visibility and lightweight ways to signal, not edit. The tradeoff is that participants give up direct control—we softened it with signals like request-a-stop, and it's the first thing I'd validate: does host-only control feel organized, or bossy?
One person coordinates. Everyone benefits.
The driver's display prioritizes awareness over interaction: navigation, convoy status, and critical alerts. The goal wasn't more information—it was making the right information impossible to miss.
After the drive
The destination isn't where the experience ends.
Most navigation systems disappear once you arrive. Here, routes become memories, photos become shared stories, and successful trips become the starting point for future adventures. Instead of ending at arrival, the product creates reasons to come back.
Trip history and shared memories turn one convoy into the next one.
Design decisions
Four decisions shaped the product. Each one traded something away.
01
Planning belongs on mobile
People already coordinate trips on their phones, so we separated preparation from driving. Tradeoff: another touchpoint. Benefit: a simpler in-vehicle experience.
02
Communication belongs inside the vehicle
Switching between apps while driving is distracting, so the vehicle becomes the safest place to coordinate the group. Tradeoff: less flexibility than messaging. Benefit: lower cognitive load while driving.
03
Groups naturally create leaders
A Convoy Host manages the experience for the group instead of treating every participant equally. Tradeoff: additional responsibility for one user. Benefit: less coordination for everyone else.
04
The journey doesn't end at arrival
Memories, shared routes, and future adventures extend the experience past the destination. Tradeoff: additional product scope. Benefit: long-term engagement.
Impact
If this product existed, here's how I'd know it worked.
Why GM would build this: richer driver data, a foundation on GM Evolve, and a group feature no competitor has.
The truck wasn't the product. The shared experience around it was.
When we started, I thought we were designing another connected-vehicle feature. That shift changed how I think about product design: I spend less time asking what belongs on a screen and more time asking how different moments connect into one coherent experience.
The best technology doesn't ask people to change how they travel. It quietly fits into the moments that already matter.
This was a concept for 2030 vehicles, so I don't claim usage metrics that don't exist. Instead, I defined how success would be measured—shifting the conversation from "Did we build it?" to "Did it improve the experience?"
How I would evaluate success
Time required to organize a trip, coordination messages before departure, convoy completion rate, driver interaction frequency while driving, repeat convoy creation, and return trips planned with the platform. This shifts the conversation from 'Did we build it?' to 'Did it improve the experience?'