Mercedes Continuity
The product changes devices. The experience doesn’t.
A companion app for Mercedes-Benz that extends the MBUX experience from the vehicle to the passenger’s smartphone. The project explored two competing interaction models—platform-first vs. MBUX-first—and tested them with 32 participants to understand which mental model transferred naturally between devices.
Should a companion app follow the conventions of the phone platform, or carry the vehicle’s interaction logic with it? Both are defensible. Only one transfers naturally between devices.
Consistency isn’t visual. It’s cognitive.
Testing with 32 participants showed that on smartphones, 75% of observed interaction patterns favoured the MBUX-adapted model. The established ecosystem extends across devices without asking users to relearn it.