Press Release
Thermal Sense Automobile Interface by Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design
Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao acknowledged for interface, interaction and user experience design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Thermal Sense Automobile Interface by Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao, designed for Tick Design Labs (Shanghai), has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design category. The recognition forms part of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Thermal Sense Automobile Interface
Thermal Sense is a driver monitoring interface for cars. Thermal Sense replaces the usual in-car camera with a low-resolution thermal sensor that records only heat patterns, so no identifiable images are created. The sensor module measures 40 by 30 by 20 millimeters and is mounted on the rearview mirror for wide cabin coverage. Neural networks analyze eye closure rates and head movements to detect drowsiness, distraction and the presence of a child. Safety alerts are given in less than 100 milliseconds, and privacy is protected at the data level.
About Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao
Zeyuan Zhang is a globally recognized user experience and product designer, as well as a scientific researcher, known for delivering user-centric solutions across healthcare, automotive, and fintech. With experience at Siemens Healthineers, BMW, and Citi, his portfolio exemplifies intuitive, high-impact design. Zeyuan has won top honors including the iF, Red Dot, IDA, and Muse Design Awards, and served as a jury member for major global competitions. Featured in Bloomberg and New York Weekly, he contributes to shaping the future of design through innovation, thought leadership, and a commitment to elevating user experience worldwide.
Award Record
This recognition makes Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2018 - 2019 and the 2024 - 2025 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design Award
The A' Interface Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good user interface designs by the best UI/UX designers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interface designers, interaction designers, user experience designers and digital product designers from all countries. Typical entries include websites, mobile applications, software interfaces, game interfaces, wearable interfaces and virtual reality interfaces. The awarded interface designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interface
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/165869
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/165869
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!165869
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/245646
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://titaninnovationawards.com/winner-info.php?id=589
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Thermal Sense Automobile Interface
- Function
- Automobile Interface
- Category
- Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Software
- Colors
- Black, White Smoke, Dim Gray, Light Slate Gray and Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Tick Design Labs (Shanghai)
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Zeyuan Zhang and Xuechun Tao
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #165869
Credits
- Team
- Zeyuan Zhang, Xuechun Tao and Yangyi Tai
- Image Credits
- All Image: Zeyuan Zhang
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- With the increasing requirement for in-car cameras to monitor drivers and support assisted driving systems, Thermal Sense offers a groundbreaking alternative. It replaces traditional cameras with low-resolution thermal sensors, capturing only heat signatures to eliminate privacy risks. This system ensures data-level privacy while detecting drowsiness, distractions, and child presence using advanced machine learning. By prioritizing safety and privacy, Thermal Sense sets a new benchmark.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by advancements in thermal imaging and the need for privacy-focused solutions, Thermal Sense addresses mandatory driver monitoring requirements without compromising identity. Research shows the efficacy of thermal sensors in detecting behavior and ensuring safety. By eliminating human-identifiable color images, it prioritizes privacy while monitoring driver attention, passenger activity, and child presence.
- Research
- Using an in-between method, we cross-compared the thermal sensor approach with traditional cameras for measuring driver behavior. Controlled experiments with 50 participants assessed drowsiness and distractions. Results showed no significant performance difference between the two methods. This demonstrates that the thermal approach is as effective as cameras while eliminating privacy concerns, making it a superior, privacy-conscious solution.
- Challenge
- Limited availability of high-quality, low-cost thermal sensors and real-time processing technology were overcome through iterative testing and collaboration with original equipment manufactures and artificial intelligence experts.
- Realization and Technology
- Thermal Sense integrates a thermal sensor at the rearview mirror for wide-angle cabin coverage. Sourced with customized original equipment manufacturer specifications, the sensor detects minute thermal variations, ensuring high sensitivity for monitoring physiological parameters. Advanced convolutional neural network process thermal data, analyzing key indicators like eye closure rates and head movements. A robust real-time pipeline enhances image quality, extracts features, and provides immediate safety alerts.
- Operation and Interaction
- Thermal Sense operates seamlessly in the background, using a thermal sensor to monitor the cabin without capturing identifiable images. Installed on the rearview mirror, it detects heat patterns to identify driver drowsiness, distractions, or child presence. The system provides real-time alerts, ensuring safety without compromising privacy. Its unobtrusive design and precise detection deliver reliable results, creating a safer and more privacy-conscious driving experience.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project commenced in January 2023 in Shanghai, China, and was completed in October 2024. Research, development, and testing phases were conducted in collaboration with leading automotive technology innovation labs.
- Specifications
- The thermal sensor module measures 40mm x 30mm x 20mm and is mounted discreetly on the rearview mirror for optimal cabin coverage. It features a low-resolution array of 32x32 pixels with a thermal sensitivity of ± 0.1°C. The system operates in real-time with a latency of under 100ms, powered by a custom hardware platform integrating convolutional neural network architectures. The package is lightweight, energy-efficient, and optimized for seamless automotive integration.
- Keywords
- thermal imaging, privacy monitoring, driver analysis, cabin safety, thermal sensors, non-invasive, AI
