Driva

Designing Support Systems for Novice Drivers

Qingqing Zhou

How might we support novice drivers in overcoming fear and building confidence through digital guidance, physical support, and community engagement?

Designer Qingqing Zhou was driven to ease the emotional and practical burden of learning to drive, transforming a stressful experience into one of empowerment and growth.

“Driva” is a multi-faceted design exploration that aims to improve the driving experience for novice drivers by addressing three core challenges: fear, cognitive overload, and isolation. It consists of three parts—a digital plugin, a physical device, and a public event—each targeting a different type of user support. The system includes:

The Heads-Up Display (HUD) Device projects essential driving information directly onto the windshield, minimizing distractions and enhancing situation awareness by sharing information such as: 

• Speed

• Navigation prompts

• Warnings

“Fear Wall,” a Community-Based Sharing Event  where novice drivers connect by:

• Sharing their fears and personal experiences

• Engaging in guided storytelling and role-play

• Building emotional resilience and peer-to-peer support networks

Throughout the design process, Zhou conducted user interviews, mapped emotional pain points, created journey maps, and built low- to mid-fidelity prototypes to test various interactions and formats. The above three concepts were developed with user feedback and grounded in real emotional needs.

This work reimagines learning to drive not as a solitary struggle but as a supported multi-dimensional journey. The final deliverables demonstrate how design can create confidence not just through tools but through connection.