systems thinking & social impact
Delivering fresh foods to food deserts through autonomous trailers
role
UX design, research, storyboarding
industry
Nonprofit, autonomous vehicles
timeline
8 weeks
team
Ariana Hill (UNT)
project brief
Communities in food deserts do not have access to fresh, nutritious foods. Families need to buy groceries, but the added time, effort, and money to shop without an accessible grocery store creates an opportunity cost that affects their budgets, schedules, overall quality of life.
project outcome
Our team of two designers researched how autonomous trailers can create an ecosystem of mobile food pantries in food deserts. We chose South Oak Cliff in Dallas as our location.
key results
$160 billion
in food waste saved through donations to our food system.
(Environmental Defense Fund)
1,000
community members
have access to new community third spaces.
104
commuting hours to the grocery store are saved per family per year.
problem
Food insecurity is a widespread, cyclical problem.
Residents in urban food deserts usually grocery shop at gas stations, dollar stores, and convenience stores that do not have fresh foods.
​
This causes
-
Added stress to low-income families who must commute at least two hours round-trip to buy groceries.
-
Future health complications like stunted growth in children and diseases in adults.
Walking to the nearest grocery store in South Oak Cliff, Dallas is one-hour one way.
target users
Our persona was Jeremy, 22, a student at Dallas College who lives on campus but doesn't own a car.
Our persona was based on the demographics of South Oak Cliff's high school, as the most available data on the Internet:
​
-
68% African American and 26.9% Hispanic
-
94% economically disadvantaged
-
20% limited English proficiency
expert interview
The freedom of choice was important to students using food pantries.
We visited the UNT Food Pantry and the Tarrant County Mobile Pantry on campus to learn more about food-insecure communities.
​
From a food pantry manager, we learned:
-
Food pantries need more halal, vegan, and vegetarian options.
-
Food pantry users want food autonomy and the freedom of choice. They don't want pre-prepared bags.
UNT Food Pantry sponsored by Kroger
futures thinking
We wanted to imagine a future where technology was used for social equity first and foremost.
Futures thinking helped us uncover the social, technological, economic, environmental, and political implications of using autonomous technology in public spaces.
​
Through a Futures Wheel with 65 natural-order effects and 83 assumptions reversal, we realized:​
-
Autonomous technology could decrease face-to-face interactions for people who seek community through nonprofits.
-
The autonomous trailers should be a third space for people to gather, almost like a farmer's market.
Futures Wheel whiteboarding
Assumptions Reversal in Notion
exploratory research
To leverage autonomous technology, we needed to understand a complex system of sensors.
We researched autonomous sensors, trailers, and the trucking industry and learned:
-
LTE and V2X (vehicle-to-everthing) technology could connect a trailer to a leading vehicle without a hitch.
-
Sensor data could be visualized as a dynamic map.
​
We also visited Home Depot and Tesla to learn about how the hardware and software would interact while driving.
Sensors on the Tesla console, Model Y
system swimlanes
Our system relied on backend processes to be a success.
We considered backend processes like
-
Loading the trailer
-
Navigating the GPS system
-
Platooning with trailers following each other like ducks in a row
Low-fi wireframes of the GPS system
Scenario description swimlanes with user actions, business processes, and tools & systems.
assumptions & considerations
We designed the autonomous trailers to be safe and reliable through multiple sensors.
The autonomous trailer would be self-driving through sensor fusion, network infrastructure, and GPS tracking.
solution
Our solution allowed people living in urban food deserts to shop for fresh produce with our autonomous trailers without changing their daily commute or feeling pressured to break the bank.
ecosystem map
A local community thriving on collaboration.
Local farms, grocery stores, and restaurants donated food to a nonprofit distribution center.
Autonomous trailers delivered food to food deserts through mobile farmer markets and food pantries. Finally, the trailers returned extra groceries to soup kitchens or other community centers.
Ecosystem map of sourcing food, distributing food, and donating food in a cyclical food economy.
storyboards
Storyboards visualized our complex food system in action.
Storyboards along journeys in preparation, trailer transit, community interaction, and trailer return.
Our journey map followed a substitute teacher in Dallas as she learned about how our solution, GoGrocery, could help her family.
Storyboard #1
Jeremy learns about GoGrocery through SMS in case he doesn't have reliable connection or storage.
He can use public transportation to reach GoGrocery, the mobile food pantry in his area.
SMS Axure prototype on YouTube Shorts
Storyboard #2
Jeremy doesn't have to pay for groceries because our system is donation based.
Donation checkout screen created in Axure.
project results
The design process can begin to solve complex social issues.
key results
$160 billion
in food waste saved through donations to our food system.
(Environmental Defense Fund)
1,000
community members
have access to new community third spaces.
104
commuting hours to the grocery store are saved per family per year.
next steps
-
Hold co-creation workshops with the community.
-
Test backend wireframes.
-
Review feasibility with engineers.
my takeaways
The sheer amount of research that we did (including test driving a Tesla in a crowded parking lot!) resulted in a community building project that represents my values as a designer. We won our class' design challenge with our presentation, and I hope this project inspires other designers to consider the nonprofit applications of technology in problem spaces untouched by corporations.
learn more
See our Notion workspace and Figma presentation!
Notion
Figma