Car designers are predicting the future

Curiosity piqued, I recently spoke to Humphries about his vision, and began by asking him whether, given the advent of electric cars and their ubiquitous powertrain, there is still a need to express engineering prowess in design?

“I think it’s important to note that EV vehicles are just one approach in achieving a carbon-neutral society,” Humphries interjects, “so, depending on the specific situation of the customer, the priorities with which he or she assesses the vehicles’s technology will change.”

Humphries does acknowledge, however, that the platform on which electric cars are built gives car brands a chance to “fundamentally change the layout and usability of future vehicles”. Design, however, does not stand alone in working through this change: “Interestingly, the full potential can only be achieved when in combination with connected technologies, autonomous support, as well as new materials technology, all taking huge simultaneous paradigm shifts together in terms of innovation”, he says.

And the change is most felt, as we know, in interior design, because with the simultaneous development in electric propulsion and greater autonomy, the car is morphing into that “third space after office and home” that many now talk about. As Humphries says, “where in the past the primary purchase reasons were based on trends or what we expect from an automotive interior based on traditional hierarchy stereotypes, it is now a much more personal decision driven by the values held by the individual. How we as a brand cater to the increased customer diversity, in terms of providing a unique “personal experience”, will be critical.”

Which sounds like an utter headache for manufacturers – traditionally, you buy a car, and five years later, you sell that very same product on. But, as Humphries so rightly surmises, the growing influence of technology, or connectivity, in a car, changes that assumption: “The product will ‘grow’ with the user, and change and improve as it moves through its product lifecycle. Products which until now have been fundamentally isolated, will be designed as part of an optimised system.” In addition to this challenge, Humphries adds, “I think people will increasingly demand that this tech be invisible, and designers will have to work hard to humanise the way we interact with it”.

I naively make the assumption that, with full automation, comes an inevitable commodification of cars – you know the cartoon – everyone being transported to their offices in Jetson-style pods. Tesla Model 3s looks like they’re half way there already…

Humphries disagrees: “If or when we move to a truly autonomous mobility society, the implications for design are infinite”, he insists. “The design of automobiles has evolved on the premise of carrying people in comfort, and protecting them in the event of a collision. If that necessity is taken away, then the form of the ‘vehicle' essentially becomes free. I believe this will herald an era of vehicle design where we will see increasing diversity to match the customers’ expectations of how they want to spend their time during transit.

“Put another way, if autonomous technology negates the need to sit in a predefined seat, with a seatbelt on, then what’s to stop the ‘car’ being a gym on wheels, or a mobile office, or somewhere to practise your golf swing!”

And if that sounds a bit way out for you, consider the fact that “We have to stop thinking in terms of ‘cars’”, as Humphries has it. “Cars were designed as a better answer to what was there before them – horses etc. – but fundamentally they are still a means of transit from A to B. The mobility era will not just be simple transportation between points, but rather finding a way to integrate the human desire to move seamlessly into all aspects of our lives. This means that the current boundaries between “outside” and “inside” will disappear, the movement of people and goods will no longer be separate. What was, for so long, deemed normal, such as going to the shops, may be turned on its head by the shop coming to you. Paradoxically mobility may not involve physical movement at all. The pandemic has taught us that people want, and expect, to move unhindered, but even the simple act of a grandparent visiting their newborn grandchild has become impossible in many countries because of lockdown restrictions. Maybe we have to create a new way to experience touch between people without physically being in the same location?”

The thought processes Humphries and his peers are going through these days are, by necessity, jumping so far ahead that they go beyond not only the current products being built and sold, but also the very language we use in the world of cars to describe the product and the reasoning. “Maybe we still don’t have the correct terminology,” Humphries concedes, “but I think the emphasis in the future will be placed on how to empower people to move freely.”

And it really is as mind-bogglingly open as that, in automotive right now. Pity every single engineer, marketing wonk and designer who has to navigate a path through this rapidly growing and spreading jungle of progress.