Student designs mobile app to facilitate vehicle maintenance

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Tiếng Việt

Student designs mobile app to facilitate vehicle maintenance

An RMIT Vietnam student has created an application to solve a common problem for vehicle owners: finding time in their busy schedules to fix cars and motorbikes.

The application, called Pitbox, connects drivers and riders with maintenance service providers. Through the app, they can find reputable mechanics, track the maintenance process, process payment, and schedule pick-up and delivery times.

“In addition to maximising the number of functions to address the needs of drivers and service providers, customers can also rate suppliers. This will create trust for the app,” said Tran Quoc Trung, a Bachelor of Design (Digital Media) student and creator of the app.

Before developing the project Trung researched vehicle ownership in Ho Chi Minh City.

“According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, the city now has nearly eight million vehicles [7.3 million motorbikes and nearly 640,000 cars],” the 2017 graduate said.

“Given the great potential for the growth of vehicles and the transformational power of digitalisation, the creation of the Pitbox mobile app will help solve the demands of consumers who are trying to find a good maintenance service but are too busy with the work and lives,” Trung said.

The Pitbox mobile app, currently in its demo version, connects drivers and maintenance service providers.

The app – currently a demo version – was developed in the Major Project course within the Digital Media Program, and will be further developed by Trung in the future.

This outstanding project won the Discipline Award at bigger!, the School of Communication & Design’s creative showcase, held at the University’s Saigon South campus last month. The showcase of 420 creative works was presented in a series of large pods, each representing one of five discipline areas: Design, Fashion, Film, Communication, and Architecture.

Bachelor of Design graduate Tran Quoc Trung 2 (wearing black T-shirt) presented the app to his lecturer and classmates

RMIT Vietnam’s Head of the School of Communication & Design Professor Rick Bennett said he was encouraged that Trung’s project tries to tackle a real life problem.

“We encourage our students to take a ‘design thinking’ approach to their projects,” Professor Bennett said.

“This requires that they put themselves in the shoes of the end user, to understand the user’s challenges, and then design an innovative solution based on that research and analysis. It’s very important that our students strive to make a recognisable creative contribution to the broader Vietnamese society.”

Meanwhile, Trung continues to develop the application and plans to launch it in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in the near future.

Story: Thuy Le

Communication and design

05 December 2017