ABUV + NODE
Problem
COVID turned the car into a safe space: a testing site, a classroom, a place to wait out the world. Yet the average steering wheel is four times dirtier than a public toilet seat, and rideshare drivers had no effective, interior-safe way to clean the air and surfaces between every rider.
Solution
A far-UVC sanitizing ecosystem for rideshares. ABUV mounts to the ceiling for broad overhead coverage, and NODE rides in the cupholder for targeted, handheld reach. Both clean the air and surfaces automatically, paired with the RIDR app to make the invisible work visible and earn rider trust.
ABUV + NODE
Fall 2020 (10 Weeks)
Electronic Prototyping
This was my first real UX project. I had a great team that taught me so much about the process and how to work well together. It's definitely a COVID project, but I still find places that are using UVC light to sanitize areas in public even now, which shows the idea had legs if it were a real product.
ABUV + NODE
Fall 2020 (10 Weeks)
Electronic Prototyping
This was my first real UX project. I had a great team that taught me so much about the process and how to work well together. It's definitely a COVID project, but I still find places that are using UVC light to sanitize areas in public even now, which shows the idea had legs if it were a real product.
Problem
COVID turned the car into a safe space: a testing site, a classroom, a place to wait out the world. Yet the average steering wheel is four times dirtier than a public toilet seat, and rideshare drivers had no effective, interior-safe way to clean the air and surfaces between every rider.
Solution
A far-UVC sanitizing ecosystem for rideshares. ABUV mounts to the ceiling for broad overhead coverage, and NODE rides in the cupholder for targeted, handheld reach. Both clean the air and surfaces automatically, paired with the RIDR app to make the invisible work visible and earn rider trust.
UX Engineer
I wired, tested, and developed physical and digital prototypes to test hypotheses and enable rapid iteration.
UX Designer
I designed the experience of using the product based on research, testing, and intuition.
Chief Storyteller
I crafted team check-in presentations, presented them, and coached other teammates on presentation strategy and performance.
Honorable Mention
Product Design
IDA
Gold
Electronics
Indigo
Silver
Mobile App
Indigo
Fall 2020. Five students, a global pandemic, and one question: where does daily life hurt most right now, and what can we actually fix?
Three places the pandemic broke
We mapped where COVID had reshaped everyday behavior, then chose the space we were best positioned to improve.
Forced screen time
Life moved online overnight, a 57% jump in screen time over the year before.
Always-on phones
Nomophobia: the growing anxiety of being without your phone for even an hour.
The unclean car
Cars became safe spaces we had no good way to keep clean. We chose this one.
Why the car
The vehicle had quietly become the most-used, least-cleaned room in our lives.
The average steering wheel is
4×
dirtier than a public toilet seat
A car interior harbors
700+
strains of bacteria at any given time
Of future riders,
80%
now expect disinfectant-grade cleaning
14 interviews, 58 survey responses, and 50+ street observations later, the real problem came into focus.
What riders and drivers told us
Voices from the road
We interviewed drivers on two continents, including Willie in Savannah and Riyaz, who answered our questions mid-ride outside Hyderabad.
Willie, the driver
A college-educated father of two who drives Uber on top of a full-time job. COVID cut his earnings and left him improvising his own sanitizing routine with no help from the platform. He needs cleaning that's visible, effortless, and worth his time.
Luna, the rider
A recent grad navigating a new city with no car of her own. Cleanliness is non-negotiable for her, and she's wary of rideshares because she can't verify how, or whether, a car was cleaned before she stepped in.
We sketched dozens of concepts, narrowed to three directions, and pressure-tested each against effectiveness, safety, and effort.
Three directions, one survivor
Every concept was scored on how well it cleaned, how safe it was for the cabin and its occupants, and how little it asked of the driver.
Cupholder spray. Modular and friendly, but we cut it. Why pay for it when a $3 bottle of Lysol does the same job?
HVAC purifier. It cleaned the cabin air, but needed a professional install and looked different in every car.
Far-UVC light. It kills germs in the air and on surfaces, stays safe in occupied cabins, and is gentle on interiors. The winner.
Proven effective
Columbia University research on continuous far-UVC exposure at the current regulatory limit.
Airborne viruses killed in
90%
about 8 minutes
And up to
99%
in about 16 minutes
All the way to
99.9%
in about 25 minutes
Making it real
A first solder joint, a first SLA print, and a lot of foam. We built the forms by hand.
Two physical devices, one connected app, and a story to tie them together.
THE 222 ECOSYSTEM
ABUV
A ceiling-mounted far-UVC device that covers the whole cabin from a high vantage point. It holds with rare-earth magnets and 3M VHB tape, leaving no damage and nothing permanent, and runs on a removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
ABUV mounted to a car ceiling, glowing far-UVC blue
NODE
A cup-holder-sized far-UVC device that oscillates to widen its reach and pops out as a handheld for the spots ABUV can't see. LED cues make its work visible at a glance.
NODE seated in a cupholder, oscillating
RIDR app
A concept app that drops our ecosystem into real rideshare flows. Drivers get live device data and a one-tap Deep Clean; riders see sanitization status before and during the trip, plus a friendly explainer on why far-UVC is safe.
RIDR driver and rider app screens side by side
Far-UVC bar
The emitter that disinfects air and surfaces across the cabin.
LED visual cues
A soft blue glow tells riders the device is actively working.
Neodymium magnets
Paired with 3M VHB tape, they hold ABUV to the ceiling without damage.
Rechargeable battery
A removable lithium-ion pack with no wiring and no professional install.
Sensors
Feed exposure and air-quality data back to the RIDR app.
In context
Golden-hour photography from the final shoot, showing the mounting process and both devices in place.
Did it work?
Two rounds of usability testing, day and night, with real drivers and riders.
System Usability Scale climbed
68 → 85
from Passive to Promoter across two rounds
We ran
9
user tests in daylight and after dark
A full Deep Clean reaches
99.9%
of air and surfaces sanitized
Recognition
Honorable Mention
Product Design
IDA · 2021
Gold
Electronics
Indigo · 2021
Silver
Mobile App
Indigo · 2021
Bronze
Technology
Indigo · 2021
Bronze
UX, Interface & Navigation
Indigo · 2021