The infotainment system in the AIWAYS U5 demonstrates a number of interesting and novel features, according to SBD Automotive's latest infotainment expert usability evaluation study. Among them are a customisable VPA avatar which can adopt the user’s face and voice, dual in-vehicle cameras, and a three-panel instrument cluster. However, a lacklustre integration results in a system that can sometimes be painfully slow and frustrating to interact with. SBD Automotive's UX Team carried out its infotainment expert usability evaluation of the AIWAYS U5 cockpit in Shanghai. Launched in 2019, the U5 is a mid-size electric SUV designed with a focus on connectivity and intelligent systems (AIWAYS stands for “AI is on the way”). The car is expected to go on sale in Europe later this year. The system comprises a 12.3-inch central information display and a cluster formed of a 7-inch display flanked by two 4.2-inch supplementary displays.
Considering its size and configuration, the instrument cluster provides a limited amount of information. It also has minimal interaction with the central display and lacks flexibility, with only the right panel offering some configurability. Overall, it feels like a missed opportunity as it has similar limitations to a conventional analogue implementation. In an approach similar to Tesla’s, the central display is focused on navigation with the home screen background being the map. The UI layout is divided into an approximate 30/70 split with the left side providing a quick-access bar and three customisable widgets for main functions. This provides a sense of immediacy to core functionality and allows for a more freeform information architecture than traditional UI designs. Navigation is effective and well implemented: it has predictive and intelligent features including detailed information, parking POI recommendations near destination and shortcuts for charging POI. The layout is similar to that on CE devices, reducing the learning effort for first-time users. The VPA is a highlight of the system, providing various intelligent features such as positional detection, “always on” for functions including navigation and infotainment control, and corresponding animations designed according to different voice commands. In addition, the user can customise the standard ‘whale’ avatar to a cartoon-style version of themselves or even use their own photograph (and in future their voice) for the avatar. The VPA demonstrates good recognition capability, but sometimes fails to complete tasks, for example not starting navigation after receiving a POI search command. Infotainment offers a good suite of features including QQ music, a comprehensive online music catalogue, but it suffers from poor integration with the user seemingly unnecessarily having to log in to QQ every ignition cycle. Two in-vehicle cameras are offered, one to monitor driver alertness, the other to log in to the infotainment system. It is unusual to see two cameras offered in this way and adds somewhat to the end-user perception of high technology.
Some elements of the system suffer significantly from slow performance, most notably system start-up and route navigation. System startup would be expected to be instant or near-instant on an EV (as on the recently evaluated Taycan), however this is far from the case. In some cases, such as HVAC operation, input sensitivity is extremely poor which leads to a frustrating experience, especially while driving. Overall, the U5’s infotainment system performs much of its core functionality pleasingly and effectively while demonstrating several interesting new approaches and AI features. However, it still leaves something to be desired in terms of finesse: the system lag and input difficulties somewhat spoil the impression of an advanced product, leaving it at times frustrating and slow to operate. These are traits that are inconsistent with a new EV offering and likely to cause disappointment to users. About SBD Automotive's UX evaluations: The U5 report is the fourth in a series of 12 infotainment expert user experience evaluations SBD Automotive is carrying out this year. These reports have been produced for several years and provide an expert evaluation of the leading navigation and infotainment systems in the European, US, Chinese and Japanese markets. The series has four main objectives, aimed at supporting clients at various stages of the development cycle: Benchmark and score, Define areas of concern, Outline best practice and Provide tangible recommendations. For these studies, SBD Automotive evaluates the three core components of user experience: functionality, ergonomics and usability, to ensure a fair score can be provided across each system evaluated. The reports rely on a robust methodology that has been developed over the lifetime of the series. It captures over 1,000 data points across 12 different disciplines including static and dynamic testing, system performance, a feature checklist and SUS scoring (see charts) to build a data set that can be consistently benchmarked against all competitor cars, including an overall final percentage system UX score.