The popularity of e-bikes among elderly presents significant challenges for road safety.
An alarming rise in fatal and serious bicycle accidents in the Netherlands has been identified during the past years, particularly among elderly on e-bikes. The most significant increase has been from single-vehicle accidents. The ANWB has always committed itself to improving traffic safety. As the biggest association of the Netherlands, the ANWB has an influential position. The design project investigates how the ANWB can play a role in preventing accidents involving elderly cyclists, aiming to contribute to the national goal of zero traffic casualties by 2050 set by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

Through a comprehensive literature review, inquiries into current projects, and expert consultations, the context of the problem was shaped. Knowledge gaps were addressed through qualitative target group research, providing relevant insights into accident contexts, usage patterns, needs, and behaviors of elderly e-bike users aged 60 and above. All insights were compiled to inform the design of the solution.

The proposed concept centers on offering "pleasant, safe routes" across both functional and recreational ANWB bicycle route planning services, incorporating a variety of new features. Currently, the ANWB provides the Eropuit platform for planning recreational bicycle routes using the knooppunten network (node network). The proposal extends ANWB’s offer with a navigation service for A-to-B bicycling, differentiating itself by focusing on pleasant, safe bicycle navigation. This involves building an algorithm that combines various mobility data sources to offer the option of ‘the pleasant, safe route’. Subsequently, this algorithm can be applied to enhance the service of the node route navigation. Additional features include clear information sharing on bicycle safety for planning junction routes and enabling users to report risk points.
Elderly cyclists typically maintain similar speeds on e-bikes as they do on regular bicycles. The e-bike does not seem to provide more risks looking at vehicle factors. However, due to the motor assistance provided by e-bikes, elderly individuals tend to cycle more frequently and cover longer distances. Another consequential risk is that it allows elderly to continue cycling despite age-related limitations. The report emphasizes the importance of recognizing that elderly cyclists tend to underestimate their limitations and have a reactive approach to bicycle safety measures.
The target group research shows the most recurring cause for accidents to be startling reactions. These reactions are often triggered by the sudden movements of other road users, causing the elderly to swerve or brake abruptly, leading to falls. A key objective of the concept proposal is to offer routes that minimize factors for startle reactions.

Furthermore, the research brings forward the needs of biking elderly. It showed that elderly can easily feel unsettled by more risky or unpredictable behavior of other road users. Additionally, elderly cyclists, especially retirees, value enjoying their rides. These insights demonstrate the need for pleasant, safe routes. Initial validation research, presenting multiple features of the concept, confirms this need, showing a positive perspective on the concept's effectiveness.

The report presents recommendations for further development, including a strategic and tactical roadmap. The strategic roadmap outlines three phases: the first involves a pilot with a minimum viable product of the pleasant, safe route navigation in the Eropuit app; the second includes the full-service release in both the Eropuit and Onderweg apps; and the third phase focuses on strengthening the unique value proposition, working towards the proposed future vision: "ANWB is a leader in bicycle safety by applying innovative technology and comprehensive, up-to-date data insights to bicycle navigation."

The issue of insufficient stowage space around the front seats has become increasingly problematic over time, with only minor improvements over the years. With the rise of autonomous driving, there’s an increasing desire for entertainment and convenience during non-driving periods. This results in a greater need to bring more items that are within reach into the car, that need to be stored easily in case of a handover situation from car to driver.

This project focuses on developing innovative stowage solutions for level 3 autonomous vehicles, specifically for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The primary goal is to meet the growing need for accessible and functional stowage in autonomous vehicles, especially during the critical handover period from vehicle to driver. Emphasizing level 3 autonomy, where the vehicle handles most driving tasks but the driver must be ready to take control in complex situations, the project aims to create solutions that can eventually scale to higher levels of autonomy. The concept is designed to support users during autonomous driving while allowing them to take control of the vehicle when necessary, ensuring that all essential elements are easily accessible for both vehicle operation and various digital and non-digital activities. JLR has expressed a desire for bold, innovative designs that challenge conventional approaches while maintaining the vehicle’s aesthetic integrity. By addressing these challenges, the project aspires to set a new standard for stowage solutions in autonomous vehicles, aligning with JLR’s commitment to being the proud creators of modern luxury. The design carefully balances aesthetics, comfort, and safety to provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience.

Globally, an urbanisation trend is underway that is creating a rising urban demand for goods and services. Especially in the Netherlands, with its limited geographical area, cities will be more densely populated by the year 2040. This will lead to an increase in the frequency and volume of urban deliveries. However, this increase in urban deliveries clashes with the lives of city inhabitants. Today's distribution vehicles disrupt the urban environment by congesting streets, increasing urban noise and polluting the air. Deliveries in the city are done with large trucks or lorries that are a direct burden to the city. Municipalities advocate for a liveable environment by imposing restrictions on heavy vehicles and strive for a truck-free city centre. However, there is no doubt that distribution vehicles will still be needed in the future urban landscape and will therefore have to adapt to contribute to a liveable environment. Aware of the changing urban landscape and future municipal and environmental requirements, leading Dutch truck brand DAF wants to offer a solution to this new urban context.

To realise the ideal urban distribution vehicle for the year 2040, the vehicle must meet the needs of the immediate stakeholders: the driver and the city inhabitants. After research on both stakeholder groups, the problems could be identified and a design vision established. The vision shows how DAF can set a new standard for how an urban distribution vehicle can be designed to integrate seamlessly into the future urban fabric. A concept has been developed that focuses on reducing the vehicle's area-time by offering a new unloading system that increases the efficiency of the unloading system, as well as increasing safety and acceptance levels for city inhabitants. In addition, the design proposal includes a recommendation on how the vehicle should be logistically deployed to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of the distribution network. Designing urban delivery vehicles in the proposed manner could ensure a future where distribution vehicles are accepted in cities and can safely share the streets with other road users.

This graduation project, conducted in collaboration with Lynk & Co, delves into the examination of their current car-sharing service. Lynk & Co, an automotive brand featuring the 01 model, provides a comprehensive sharing platform allowing owners to share their vehicles, even with strangers. However, concerns arise when sharing with strangers regarding the ability to trust the borrower and their driving behaviour. Consequently, owners often reject booking requests from unfamiliar individuals, resulting in a low acceptance rate.

A thorough literature review and a questionnaire revealed five primary motivations for owners’ reluctance to engage in sharing: emotional attachment to the car, car availability, financial risks, trust in the user and system, and user behaviour. Furthermore, a journey map identified critical points in the car-sharing service, stimulating owners to offer their idle cars, providing a means to assess borrowers, and ensuring a sense of control during bookings. These insights collectively highlighted a predominant theme—the lack of control and trust in users.
However, amidst the identified challenges, an opportunity gap emerged: the car’s interior, a shared space between lender and borrower, with the potential to influence users through cognitive ergonomics. The proposed concept, named Stimulus, capitalizes on this opportunity by utilizing Lynk & Co’s distinctive car features and existing sensors to collect driving data. This data creates a profile of the borrower’s driving behaviour, addressing owners’ concerns about control during bookings.

The designed concept employs existing sensors to enhance the car-sharing experience by providing borrowers with real-time feedback on their driving style. This feedback is delivered through haptics in the steering wheel and visualizations on the car’s infotainment screens. Prototyping, both physical and digital, demonstrated the efficacy of this feedback system. Testing with 41 participants affirmed that haptic feedback effectively notifies users, and visualizations encourage careful driving. Moreover, borrowers expressed willingness to share this driving data, recognizing its benefits.
The culmination of driving behaviour data is made into a trip score. In addition to in-car modifications, the mobile app is redesigned to emphasize borrower trust. Parts that are added are a different review system, detailed user profiles and a market for placing requests. 

Stimulus addresses the challenges in Lynk & Co’s car-sharing service by leveraging cognitive ergonomics in the shared interior space, utilizing existing sensors for driving behaviour analysis and enhancing user trust through real-time feedback. The findings from the project present a holistic solution that contributes to more trust in and over borrowers, leading to a more beneficial car-sharing experience for the lender.

MP Motorsport is a talent educating race team participating in the classes below the Formula 1. The problem with the lower classes and therefore MP Motorsport as well is that these classes don’t get much attention and exposure. As a company run by people with passion the branding and positioning is more something that naturally emerged from this passion rather than a series of conscious decisions. This makes it fragile. A more conscious strategy and vision on how MP Motorsport needs to be branded and positioned against their competition that is more than “look how cool racing is” is needed to become more attractive for sponsoring. This report describes the process from analysis to finding the right positioning and an advise for a new brand identity and an implementation plan to help becoming more attractive for sponsoring goals. The analysis done with employees showed a unique characteristic that will help the team to position themselves against the competition; the family atmosphere. This atmosphere is what also characterises their contradictory personality. This personality is on one hand leading and ambitious and on the other hand modest and involved. Competition and stakeholder analysis have been performed to find the right combination of being unique to the competition, desirable for the stakeholders (the fans and sponsors) and builds upon the core strengths of the company. Then using the brand key model, a positioning is made with the essence: Be your best self. The belief, “in everyone hides a talent” and values like “everyone is equal” and “together we succeed” combined with the essence and the positioning resulted in a brand story that describes the feeling MP Motorsport wants to communicate. To manifestate the brand, an advise has been set up for a tone of voice and tone of image. Wrapped in a concept called “winning redefined” this advise is part of the whole implementation plan that should lead the way for the team to implement the newly created brand in short and long term actions. In 3 phases MP Motorsport is advised to start with a clear brand introduction to the target groups Gen Z and potential sponsors. The next phase revolves around creating a community to attract both Gen Z talents and subsequently sponsors to interact with the team and each other. Finally the last phase is long term focused and aims for sustainable growth. In this phase the community is established and can expect various opportunities to discover and develop a whole range of talents, sponsors and gen z are connected to each other via MP Motorsport and the team is able to finance the lower classes without the pressure of the money drivers bring along.

This was an explorative project which investigated the use and implementation of smart materials in an automotive context for Toyota Motors Europe. The smart materials in this context were shape memory materials which possess the ability to change their shape under appropriate stimulus. The idea of the project was to understand how the materials behaved and to find out if this behavior could be used in some way to help the user of a Toyota autonomous car. To be able to involve the users systematically and to solve their needs, a context driven design approach called the Vision in Product Design (VIP) was adopted.

Using the VIP process as a guideline and modifying it to incorporate the material technology aspect of the project, a final product concept was generated. This product not only solved the needs of the user in an autonomous car but also made efficient use of the shape memory materials.

Reactive Environment Outlets (REOs) are movable outlets designed for Toyota autonomous cars which provide different environments to the user, specific to their location. REOs are actuated by shape memory muscle wires which possess the capability of contracting when heated. A simple and compact mechanism consisting of a spherical joint and muscle wires, enables the outlet to rotate in all directions.

REOs would play a crucial role in future autonomous cars by providing the required environment conditions as the passenger performs different activities and takes different seating positions. The styling of the outlet was designed specifically for the Toyota Concept-i.