ROUTE BLOCKAGES
Redesign @ Nuro
Modernizing the workflows behind Nuro’s real-world obstruction mapping
ROLE
Product Designer
SKILLS
UX Research, Prototyping
Interaction Design
TIMELINE
3 weeks
TEAM
Mentor: Daniel Lin
Engineer: Nhan Le
Jump to solution
The Problem
Identifying pain points
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The route blockages tool is an internal tool used by ops, eng, and in-vehicle teams to identify and mark obstructions along preset routes so that Nuro vehicles might be safely and efficiently routed around them.
Since its creation, the tool had been retouched only for critical flaws — leaving several significant pain points unaddressed.
Inherited functionality
1
Limited CRUD functionality
The tool only allowed users to create, view, and apply basic edits to blockages, with no higher-level infrastructure for functions like viewing expired blockages.
2
Unintuitive UX
Geofences were clunky to place and hard to edit, with no way to draw multiple geofences at once, posing a safety risk for in-vehicle operators in the field.
3
Dated UI
The interface was built around an archived version of the design system, creating visual inconsistencies that detracted from the tool's usability and learnability.
User & Product Research
Identifying operational needs across roles
Stakeholder interviews
Observational research
Analysis of adjacent tooling
In-vehicle operators need more intuitive and flexible ways to create blockages, so they can stay focused on keeping themselves and the vehicle safe.
Eng teams need more legible metadata — particularly access to expired or deleted blockages — to better understand routing behavior at any given point in time.
All users need smoother UX interactions, so they don't have to fight against the tool to get their work done.
Prototyping & Iterating
Developing new ways to create, read, update, and delete blockages
1
Ideating interactions
Users could click to place points to define a geofence, but couldn't move, delete, or add geopoints without restarting completely. After experimenting with Google Maps, Photoshop, and drone-routing tools, I brainstormed a range of ways to make geofence drawing and editing more flexible.
2
User testing & mapping with a vibe-coded prototype
I used Figma Make to rapidly prototype geofence-drawing interactions, enabling real user testing sessions during the design process.
3
Sync with eng
I synced with the eng team multiple times throughout the project to scope and rescope which design decisions were feasible given time and resource constraints — balancing user needs against technical reality to define the final product.
Final solution
A comprehensive and interactive mockup of new features
Redesigning how to read blockages
With inactive blockages added to the system, I reworked the filtering and sorting patterns for both the side panel and main map view.
Redesigning how to edit blockages
I redesigned the systems for creating and editing blockages from the ground up, introducing a new alternative "spinal" process and integrating more flexibility into the editing process, including being able to add and delete preset points.
Displaying inactive blockages
I created infrastructure for users to view and recover inactive (expired or deleted) blockages, exploring different UI patterns to clearly distinguish them from active ones.
emmzhao@stanford.edu
(650) 437-3502
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