Dash Garden creates deeper understanding of information and multi-sensorial manipulation of features, transforming raw data into the intersection of active information display and active user input. By investigating the capabilities and benefits of tactile kinetic interaction design, Dash Garden provides the user with options to engage and enjoy their traveling experience in an autonomous car while customizes driving behavior, vehicle performance, and the capability to create a personal ecology of shape shifting devices.

We are immersed in a world of perpetually evolving data that are perceived by senses and sensors. Whether it's from the human eye or a video camera pixel, there are always perceptions of color, shape and cognitive understandings to interpret these data. What if raw data can be translated into a system of physical interfaces which display spatial and volumetric information, as well as purely tactile information, for more intuitive and quicker understanding? Dash Garden situates a system of objects that are physically responsive to both the user and the environment in an autonomous automobile. The system consists of physically mutating kinetic objects that allow the user to alter the vehicle's speed, tuning, and various settings by manipulating the forms of the objects. These objects will self-initiate transformation to indicate crucial data sensed by the vehicle, both internally (real-time vehicle status) and externally (the vehicle's environment). While the vehicle drives itself through smart computers and GPS system, the driver can choose to intervene, to maneuver lanes, quickly change speed, input GPS coordinates, communicate, and understand the road conditions.