coModule – Analysis of an e-bike app

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Description

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© coModule

Two concepts that play a large role in designing new, sustainable mobility solutions are the increasing connection of vehicles and the promotion of light electric vehicles, such as the e-bike, as a low-emission alternative to motorized private transport. The Berlin/Tallin-based start-up company coModule developed a tool that combines these approaches. The resulting product incorporates hardware and software solutions in order to connect the e-bike, the user and the manufacturer. Data is provided to the manufacturer to support maintenance processes and product development. In addition, a smartphone app for the user is available which, among other things, supports navigation and route tracking and also comes with the promise to “cure range anxiety and prevent theft”. In the context of an interdisciplinary project during the winter term 2015/2016, the usability of the app was tested systematically. The main objective of the project was to conduct an initial usability testing of the app with potential end-users. A special focus was given to intuitive interaction and the mitigation of adoption barriers. The following steps were taken to reach these objective by complying scientific standards:

1. A literature research into adoption barriers concerning the use of e-bikes was conducted. In order to extend these findings, a group interview was conducted (study 1).
2. Subsequently, a usability study in a laboratory setting was conducted in order to assess if the app was designed appropriately to allow for intuitive usage (study 2).
3. In addition, a field study was carried out, which focused on usability issues in the mobile context and the mitigation of adoption barriers (study 3).
4. To gain recommendations for the improvement of the product, the findings of the literature research and the three studies were analyzed. Furthermore, a creative workshop was conducted to gain additional recommendations.