FLEXConnect | Sana Jafri

A unified in-cabin UX system evolving from early prototypes to wellness-aware, AI-powered vehicle experiences

FLEXCOnnect 25 Video

FLEXConnect™ 2025

Designing the evolution of FLEXConnect™ - Mitsubishi’s intelligent in-cabin platform for
next-gen vehicles

As the lead UX Architect, I’ve shaped FLEXConnect™ from early prototypes to a robust platform integrating real-time driver monitoring, wellness tracking, and cloud-based personalization. Spanning 2021–2025, my work bridges HMI architecture, biometric sensing, and system intelligence - delivering interfaces that prioritize safety, situational awareness, and user trust.

Role & Responsibilities:

Lead Design Architect, UX, HMI, Product Strategy, Ideation

Tools:

Figma, Android Studio, AWS, RTOS Illustrator, Photoshop

Duration:

2021 - Present

Multiple Iterations

Team:

Global cross-functional Advanced Engineering Team

01/ FLEXConnect Iterations

FLEXConnect 2025 : Safety and Wellness Intelligence

Bridging biometric sensing with automated response systems

The 2025 release expanded FLEXConnect™ into a safety-critical platform. I helped design features that fuse Driver Monitoring System (DMS) data, including posture, alertness, and facial expression, with biometric cues like heart rate and breath rate to detect impairments, fatigue, or medical distress.

My role spanned user flow design, visual feedback systems, and the UX for Emergency Response automation - a feature that alerts nearby vehicles, emergency services, and contacts if a medical or impairment event is detected. This version brought together everything we had been building toward: a multimodal, intelligent, and user-aware in-cabin experience.

Watch FLEXConnect'25 Video

FLEXConnect 2024: Cloud Integration

Connected personalization and intelligent ecosystem touchpoints

The 2024 iteration marked a major leap: cloud integration. I led UX for the FLEXConnect™ Cloud Platform, designing a companion dashboard that allowed users to manage profiles, view usage insights, and extend their in-cabin preferences across vehicles.

This release also marked our first steps into wellness: I designed the entry point for vitals integration, setting up a framework for interpreting biometric signals from connected wearables and in-cabin sensors. Collaborating with cloud, data, and hardware teams, I worked to align system-level intelligence with user trust and transparency.

FLEXConnect 2023: Seamless Mobility, Shared Experiences

Introducing adaptive states and rear-seat interaction

In 2023, we introduced dynamic states based on vehicle context - parked, driving, charging - to tailor interface behavior in real time. I redesigned the interaction logic for both front and rear passengers, introducing a backseat tablet experience that allowed passengers to adjust settings, control media, and interact with the system independently.

My focus this year included refining the visual language, motion design, and supporting seamless transitions between shared and individual control. This release deepened FLEXConnect’s responsiveness and moved us closer to a context-aware cabin.

Laying the foundation for a software-defined cockpit

The first version of FLEXConnect™ debuted as an internal proof of concept to reimagine the cockpit interface in a software-defined vehicle. I helped define interaction patterns and visual hierarchy for the system’s multi-display setup, building prototypes for cluster, IVI, and rear-seat passenger experiences. Working closely with engineering, we established the baseline HMI architecture and created adaptable UI components that would evolve over the next several releases.

This release introduced early concepts around driver awareness and responsive interfaces, setting the stage for a more intelligent in-cabin experience.

02/ Highlights & Contributions

Across four major releases (2022–2025), I’ve led the UX vision, design execution, and cross-functional product strategy for Mitsubishi’s FLEXConnect™ platform - shaping an evolving system that blends intelligence, safety, and responsiveness into the in-cabin experience.

Key contributions include:

Defined the multimodal UX foundation for FLEXConnect™, designing across gesture, gaze, touch, voice, and biometric inputs to accommodate diverse in-cabin configurations and user contexts.

Crafted both driver- and passenger-centric experiences, balancing personalization with safety, and ensuring consistency across hardware generations and vehicle types.

Led UX direction for critical safety and wellness features, including Emergency Response Automation, Driver Impairment Detection, and biometric-integrated Driver Monitoring System (DMS) flows.

Co-developed Mitsubishi’s cockpit design system, introducing scalable components, motion guidelines, and behavioral logic for multimodal HMI across internal and partner-facing teams.

Worked closely with AI, sensing, and HMI teams to translate early-stage R&D into user-facing features, prototyping well before final hardware or architecture was available.

Produced high-fidelity UI, motion specs, and interactive prototypes, and led developer handoffs, documentation, and stakeholder reviews across international teams.

Presented FLEXConnect at CES, CAR.HMI, and internal showcases, translating deep technical systems into clear, human-focused design narratives.

03/ Strategic Partnerships

As FLEXConnect matured into a full-stack cockpit platform, its capabilities were amplified by deep collaborations with AWS and BlackBerry. These partnerships shaped the vehicle's intelligent behavior, enabled edge-to-cloud interaction, and directly informed our UX design for critical in-cabin systems.

AWS: Powering Intelligent Cloud Connectivity

ROLE

Cloud infrastructure partner for edge computing, remote diagnostics, OTA updates, and real-time telemetry.

UX CONTRIBUTION

I worked with the AWS vehicle architecture team to shape driver-facing interfaces around connected features - including over-the-air update flows, driver status models, and data transparency settings.

IMPACT

Enabled a shift toward data-informed HMI flows and proactive in-vehicle experiences.

BlackBerry IVY: Enabling Synthetic Sensing & Driver State Intelligence

ROLE

Smart vehicle data platform that allowed us to process and interpret in-cabin signals, from posture and eye movement to cognitive load, in real time.

UX CONTRIBUTION

I helped define how synthetic sensor data (generated from multiple signals fused on-device) informed the design of the Distraction Meter and other wellness-related interfaces.

IMPACT

Allowed FLEXConnect to quantify and respond to driver attention in context - laying groundwork for adaptive interaction models and future autonomy support.

04/ UX Design and Takeaways

My design approach for FLEXConnect has evolved over time, but certain principles have remained consistent: build for trust, adapt to context, and respect the complexity of in-vehicle interactions.

User-Centered, Environment-Aware
In-vehicle design isn’t just about screens, it’s about space, motion, and attention. I designed with physical ergonomics, glanceability, and regulatory constraints in mind, ensuring safety-critical features always prioritized clarity and minimal distraction.

Systems Thinking, Modular Architecture
Each year, new sensors, partners, and markets added complexity. I responded by designing modular UX patterns that could adapt to changing tech stacks and interaction modalities, all while maintaining visual and behavioral consistency.

Rapid Prototyping & Collaborative Testing
Given the pace and ambiguity of innovation, prototyping was critical. I regularly led motion and interaction prototypes for new features, tested them in driving simulators or demo vehicles, and incorporated findings into iterative cycles, often collaborating with cognitive scientists, HMI engineers, and validation teams.

Outcomes & Reflection
Designing FLEXConnect taught me how to scale UX across a living platform, one that grows more intelligent, more integrated, and more human with each release. It’s also shown me the power of design in shaping how people trust and relate to emerging technologies, especially when safety and wellbeing are at stake.