Helping Truckers Navigate Across the Country
3.5 million truckers ship 80% of U.S. freight. Samsara helps +15,000 companies manage large scale shipments in a $796.7 billion market. Through Berkeley Innovation, I was on an ambitious project to improve the livelihood of truckers that make the big picture possible.
RESEARCH
Truckers rely on truck stops for food, gas, parking, showers and more
Accessing essential amenities can be hard when driving across the country, in a 72-foot truck, for months at a time. Through interviews, I learned that truckers live a precarious life and truck stops are their lifelines.
INSIGHTS
Truckers face unique challenges during navigation
Driving breaks are required every 8 hours
Apple / Google Maps are unsafe for semi trucks
Finding truck stops causes distracted driving
Truckers carefully track 4 work break clocks
Final Solution Highlights
Semi trucks are designed for the long haul. So, their navigation apps should be too. Samsara navigation helps truckers navigate interstate shipments amidst mandatory work breaks, unsafe roads and shipment deadlines.
Safe and Optimized Directions
Directions are optimized for truck height and weight data from Samsara’s driver app reducing fuel inefficiency, late shipments, and accidents caused by sudden deviations from unsafe routes provided by Apple or Google Maps.
Never Miss a Work Break Again
Work hour data is integrated with Samsara’s hardware increasing awareness of upcoming work breaks. Tracking four federally mandated work break clocks is stressful, and violating any of them puts employment at risk.
Amenities are One Tap Away
When Samsara’s hardware detects an upcoming work break, truckers can easily navigate to a suggested truck stop. Essential amenities at suggested truck stops are viewable at a glance.
Route to the Perfect Truck Stop
Truckers can route to nearby truck stops reducing the need to exit navigation to Google “nearby truck stops” (a behavior observed through research).
PROCESS
How we got there
Concision for Safety
Parking, food, gas and showers are the most important amenities to truckers. Displaying relevant information and reducing obstruction was accomplished through research and testing with truckers.
Dragging vs. Tapping
Dragging interactions are not accessible to truckers who vary in tech literacy. The goal was to allow easy dismissal of suggestions through large touch targets, and a consistent call to action strategy.
Refining the Suggestion Card
Multiple iterations were tested with truckers to show relevant amenities without obstruction, reinforce a consistent call to action strategy and use accessible interaction patterns for safety.
Removing Intrusion
Driver interfaces should be minimal. So, associated interactions should be too. I aimed to reduce intrusion and commitment to the selected truck stop before finalizing a reroute.
Trucker-friendly Components
I designed a trucker-friendly component library with key considerations to the target user and associated contexts. For example, phones are mounted further away in semi trucks than in cars.
Measuring Success
User retention
How often do truckers exit navigation? User retention determines if user needs (such as finding truck stops and checking work hours) can be solved in-app.
Driver performance reports
Fleet admins can view shipment timeliness, driver safety, and fuel efficiency scores. High-level impact is measured by driver performance scores currently provided by Samsara.
Impact
In spring of 2020 my team and I handed off designs and presented to the senior designer of the routes team, researchers, and product designers at Samsara. Our designs are currently under review.
Takeaways
🔎 Empathize through research strategy
Designing for truckers was a challenge that excited me from the start. Effective research stemmed from our dedication to dissecting the brief and refining research strategy.
🏗️ Iterate early and often
Iterating early and often was integral for rich design critiques, productive client meetings and solutions of varying complexity.
🚚 When in doubt, consider the user
Designing for varying levels of tech literacy and high-stress scenarios required unconventional creativity. Intention came from constantly considering the truckers I spoke to.
🦉 Special thanks to Samsara and my team
Weekly meetings at the office were engaging, collaborative, and full of snacks. Thank you to the designers and researchers that supported us.
All PHOTOS TAKEN BY IVY NGUYEN WITH CONSENT. THIS PAGE’S CONTENT WAS NOT PRODUCED BY SAMSARA AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE COMPANY’S VIEWS. SENSITIVE INFORMATION IS OMITTED OR OBFUSCATED IN COMPLIANCE WITH A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.