Fixed Imaging Tunnel Dashboard

The Problem

Cox Automotive's Fixed Imaging Tunnel captures high-resolution exterior vehicle images automatically at Manheim auction locations, but operators had no centralized way to monitor tunnel health, control operational states, or review per-vehicle output. Leadership lacked visibility across the national FIT network, while on-site technicians needed granular control of their individual tunnels.

My Approach

1. 1Mapped the user hierarchy — from Cox Automotive leadership needing national KPIs, to regional managers tracking clusters of locations, to on-site technicians managing a single tunnel — and designed a progressive drill-down information architecture.
2. 2Collaborated with design and engineering teams to build a dashboard with operational metrics, IoT state controls (active, maintenance, emergency stop), per-vehicle photo galleries with timestamps, schematic camera maps per tunnel, and downstream workflow visibility.
3. 3Created a unified interface that served both the macro view (all FITs nationwide) and the micro view (individual car images, damage detection results, and service records at a single location).

Key Decisions & Trade-offs

Progressive disclosure from national overview → location → individual vehicle ensured the same dashboard served executives and technicians without separate tools. We prioritized accuracy of damage detection over throughput speed.

Outcome & Impact

• Deployed across Manheim auction locations nationwide
• Enabled centralized monitoring and IoT control of FIT network from a single dashboard
• Reduced downstream coordination delays by providing visibility into each vehicle's next step
• Gave on-site technicians direct control over tunnel states, improving safety and uptime

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of designing for multiple user personas within a single product. The challenge wasn't technical complexity — it was information architecture.