In Market
|
IDEA & RED DOT AWARD
|
Safety- Critical HMI
|
In Vehicle interaction
|
Multi Brand
|
Trucking Industry
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In Market | IDEA & RED DOT AWARD | Safety- Critical HMI | In Vehicle interaction | Multi Brand | Trucking Industry |
HMI System for Class 8 Trucks
Volvo VNL Platform. Volvo Trucks North America
2
Industry awards - IDEA & Red dot
VNL
Platform - Flagship heavy-duty North American truck
6 +
HMI domains delivered - cluster, infotainment, DECM, LECM, Icons, app
2025
Released and on the market
Volvo VNL Platform — North America's leading heavy-duty commercial truck. I contributed to instrument cluster, infotainment, control modules, and iconography across the interior digital ecosystem.
01 - Brief
01
Safety-critical at 80mph
Commercial truck drivers manage routes, cargo, fuel, temperature, and vehicle health - all while navigating high-speed freight corridors. Every HMI decision directly affects driver safety and delivery outcomes. There is no tolerance for confusion in the cab.
02
A system, not a screen
This wasn't a single-screen redesign. It spanned instrument cluster, infotainment, two physical control modules, iconography, and a companion app — all of which had to form a coherent, unified interaction language across hardware and software simultaneously.
03
Multi-brand with one foundation
The VNL platform shares foundational architecture with Mack Trucks and European Volvo platforms. Every design decision had to be portable — flexible enough for brand differentiation, robust enough to scale without duplication of engineering effort.
Where safety,
complexity, and scale
collide
My Role
Interaction Designer- Strategy, HMI, Advanced Design, Multi-brand
Timeline
2019 – 2020
Released on the market in 2025
Company
Volvo Trucks North America
(shared with MACK & EU platforms)
Partners
UX Designers, Industrial Designers, Engineers, Feature Leaders, Product Planners, Ergonomics & Safety
Red Dot Award: Product Design
IDEA Award: Industrial Design Excellence
02 - Driver Needs
The driver is
never just driving
Long-haul commercial truck drivers operate in one of the most demanding work environments of any profession. They're managing fuel economy, route optimization, cargo temperature, vehicle diagnostics, regulatory compliance (HOS logs), communication, and fatigue — simultaneously. Designing for this ecosystem requires understanding the full cognitive load, not just the screen in front of them.
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel is the highest operating cost for fleets. Drivers need instant, actionable feedback on driving behaviors that affect MPG—not buried in menus.
Safety
Every HMI interaction competes with road attention. Warning hierarchies, glanceability, and physical control placement are all life-safety decisions.
Drive Focus
Information architecture must surface the right data at the right moment. Secondary tasks (routes, calls, music) must never demand more than a glance.
Productivity
Drivers are workers. HOS logging, delivery confirmations, fleet messaging, and vehicle health checks must be fast and low-friction to protect their time.
Connected
Fleet managers, dispatchers, navigation, and entertainment — the cab is an office. Seamless connectivity between in-cab and mobile is non-negotiable.
"Designing for a truck driver isn't designing for a commuter with a bigger screen. It's designing for a professional whose attention is split across a 40-ton vehicle, a 500-mile route, and a dispatcher on the radio — all at once."
03 - Contribution
What I owned
across the full system
As an Interaction Designer focused on the Volvo brand, I worked across six interconnected HMI domains — from the physical control modules to the digital cluster to the companion app. Each domain required a different design approach, but all had to cohere into a single, learnable system for drivers.
Instrument Cluster & Driving Features
Gauge sets, warning hierarchies, and a driving view information architecture. Designed for glanceability at 80mph pixel-perfect implementation with an of external vendor.
Iconography System
Designed and implemented the complete iconography set for both brands — communicating system states, actions, and warnings in a universally legible visual language.
Driving Environment Control Module (DECM)
End-to-end layout architecture for the physical + digital control surface. Task-driven iconography for system states. Coordinated with Industrial Design for hardware-software alignment.
Infotainment - Android Automotive OS
UX and interaction design for Android Automotive OS integration: navigation, media, communication, and fleet app features adapted for a truck-specific context.
Living Environment Control Module (LECM)
Climate, lighting, bunk, and comfort controls for the cab living space. Information architecture and feature flows built collaboratively with engineers in Balsamiq.
MyTruck Connectivity App
Contributed to the North American version of the MyTruck companion app - connecting in-cab digital systems to the driver's mobile device for fleet integration.