Cruise -
Internal Ops Origin Readiness
June 2023
Hi! Thanks for checking out this project :)
To comply with NDA, certain parts of the project were edited or removed.
About Cruise
Cruise is a motor vehicle manufacturing company that designs and builds world leading autonomous vehicles. The company has been testing specially built self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV in various cities in the U.S.
In 2020, Cruise unveiled their development of Origin, a minivan-looking electric bus. As Cruise increased production of their new development in 2023, they aimed to gradually replace the Bolt with Origin.
My project focused on the transition from Bolt to Origin over 4 weeks.
My Impact
Uncovered critical roadblocks for achieving company’s business goals
Identified areas for improvement to minimize risks and costs, as well as to improve efficiency and reliability
The Problem
As business decisions regarding the transitions evolve, we knew very little about how ready internal operations are with the upcoming changes.
In order to ensure that transitions are smooth and pain-free for our operations, we need to
Understand whether and how new features on Origin affect processes & needs in operations
Outline areas for improvement
Inform future research
Methods
To understand the new features on Origin and potential changes it may bring —> literature review & field studies
To determine how Origin’s features would change operations’ work processes and needs —> semi-structured interviews
Research Process
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Problem Framing
Worked collaboratively to understand the problem and why it is important
Literature Review
Reviewed existing research regarding Bolt and Origin
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Research Plan
Field research guide and interview script
Recruitment
Determined target participants and availability
Logistics
Arranged field visits at both Bolt and Origin launching/production facilities, scheduled interviews
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Field studies with operators across teams
Observed and interviewed current operations’ workflows
Noted potential differences between Bolt and Origin
Semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) across teams
Understood the incompatibilities between their current processes with anticipated future processes given existing knowledge
Measured the severity of these incompatibilities
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Findings Synthesis
Identified known findings and new knowledge
Transformed findings into meaningful and actionable insights
Quantified risks for insights
Recommendations
Generated “how might we” questions to inspire future research
Results
Challenge: Low Familiarity with Origin among operations
Risks
Increased confusion and uncertainty about upcoming changes
How might we…
Tailor training processes that are appropriate for the Origin to inform operations and help prepare for upcoming changes
“I don’t really know about the features on the Origin”
“All I know is that there is no steering wheel, but I don’t know how much that will affect our workflows”
Challenge: Operation’s current workflows are not applicable/adaptable to Origin
Risks
Without updating and accommodating to Origin’s new capabilities, there are increased risks for safety, cost, and efficiency, privacy, and public’s perception of Cruise
Old workflows for public-facing operation teams may also reduce customer satisfaction
How might we…
Develop more efficient, streamlined, and reliable tools while optimizing current processes to reduce cost and unnecessary efforts for Cruise
Address needs for automation to reduce operation’s burden with new changes and improve efficiency