How Auto UX Design Jumps Into The Future
Paul Woods, CEO and COO of Edenspiekermann, explains the science fiction future of car interface design and the challenges of bringing button and lever drivers into a new screen and voice controlled experience
Cars have come a long way since you clicked the radio off the dash and took it with you. Now windshield wipers and lights turn on automatically, speakers can be connected to your smartphone, and – if you drive a high-end model – you can use touchscreens to control all things that used to require pressing buttons and pulling levers. Car dashboards are gradually leaving the analog world in favor of an experience more reminiscent of using a smartphone than operating a vehicle.
Paul Woods, CEO and COO of design consultancy Edenspiekermann, led branding and UX projects for automotive brands like Mercedes and Faraday Future – which he describes as "essentially the Batmobile or something Tony Stark would build" – and understands the challenges of design good user interfaces for cars.
According to him, automotive companies are in a state of rapid digital acceleration – catalyzed by challenger brands like Tesla as well as a new consumer appetite for electric vehicles. "What we're seeing is a by-product of that – the need for more technology in cars," he told CR. "When we talk about an electric vehicle, of course you need this higher level of technology."