From Accessibility to Acceleration: Dr. Frankie James on Human-Centered HMI, Innovation & Loving a Good Race

Dr. Frankie James is an automotive industry and innovation consultant providing expertise and insights into the state of the mobility industry and helping clients partner to achieve their goals. Her consultancy, FJ Mobility Innovation, is particularly focused on helping large corporations and startups work together by bridging the gap between their unique needs and approaches and improving user experiences inside and outside of the vehicle. Frankie’s career has spanned roles in corporate innovation and R&D, including 17 years at General Motors’ Silicon Valley innovation office. In that role, she led a team that worked to identify startups with promising new technologies and trends and establish relationships back to the GM business units to develop prototypes and potentially work towards commercialization. Among other successes, Frankie’s team was responsible for identifying Cruise Automation as a potential acquisition target for GM and initiating the work that led to GM commercializing the first in-vehicle wireless device charging solution. Frankie received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University for research on audio interfaces for blind users. She has strong expertise in accessibility and usability, particularly multimodal and divided attention situations such as found in automotive HMI and infotainment.