TL;DR: Automatic truck shifted badly, no mechanical issues, adaptive transmission needed to relearn our driving – ultimate UX
My recent experience with my truck has made me think about how much machine learning is actually involved in driving my truck. I drive a 2013 Ford F150 FX4 with EcoBoost.
We had a problem where one of the hoses came off of my transmission (the transmission cooling line) and this resulted in a massive shutdown. Once fixed, we noticed a lurch when the transmission was shifting between 3rd and 4th. We eventually got the transmission pulled apart because the computer wasn’t “throwing any codes”. Once apart, there was something sticking, so that was replaced. Once all was said and done, the mechanic who dealt with the taking apart and putting back together of the transmission told us that there was nothing mechanically wrong anymore; and what had been wrong had not needed to be immediately fixed. We surmised that the truck now just needed to learn how we drive, so that it could adapt to our driving and shift appropriately. The mechanic had no idea what we were talking about.
I think this is one of the ultimate experience designs, where the truck has to learn how I drive, and how my husband drives so that it can figure out how to shift the transmission best to meet our needs.
While the video is not specific to my truck, it gives a great (and short) rundown of the adaptive transmission.
And I know, it isn’t really mobile learning in the sense that we are using it, but I like the fact that this focuses on learning the user, which is something I would like to explore more in an educational context.
https://www.schultzdieselsports.com/blog/adaptive-transmissions-relearning