Today, Jeevak was the chosen moderator on an executive panel discussing the future of vehicle interiors at World Congress Experience (WCX). This flagship conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International) is anticipated yearly as an essential overview and meeting point of the mobility industry. The panel was comprised of executives from HARMAN, Continental, Denso, FCA, Nissan and Bosch. Together, they discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the future of vehicle interior HMI and UX as the industry pushes towards Level 3 Autonomy.
Jeevak, Director of Strategic Growth at Sundberg-Ferar Product Innovation Studio, endowed the panel with a conversational but rapid-fire, tone. The discussion was informative and challenging, yet still gave way to occasional moments of humor and camaraderie onstage. Jeevak opened by getting a panoramic sweep from each of the panelists on what broad challenges are currently facing vehicle interior design. Rashmi Rao of HARMAN, Tamara Snow of Continental, Justin McBride of Denso, Tim Potok of FCA, Adam Tacey of Nissan, and Stefan Buerkle of Bosch all responded and also shared their company’s perspective and philosophy in tackling these challenges. Together, these executives represented a rich cross-section of industry expertise.
After several major topics were brought to the surface, the discussion explored more specific questions for future vehicle interiors. Each of the executives explored, in particular, the difficulty of balancing the directives of OEMs with customer expectations. Aspects of each person’s approach in this decision-making process shone light on how the industry can successfully navigate these waters in the future. The individual panelists also shared their personal areas of passion in developing solutions to these obstacles.
The discussion went on to address the panelists’ sense to urgency to help the customer develop a proper understanding of technologies being introduced, including the different levels of autonomy with their advantages and limitations. They discussed the changing lifestyle of users as ride-share gains momentum, and the related challenges of interior HMI and UX in single-driver use cases contrasted with those of family, and front and second-row. From there, conversation naturally progressed to in-vehicle displays and the questions of “what should displays do”, “how many are needed” and “how should they be used throughout the user journey”. Jeevak finally brought the panel to a close with a last word from each of the executives. They, in turn, left the audience with their opinion of what the primary concern in vehicle interiors should be for the industry moving forward.
As we race toward Level 3 Autonomy, the perspectives of this sagacious panel gave the audience an elaboration on the future challenges and boons of vehicle interiors. The panel also painted a sharp outline of the ways in which automotive companies are planning to serve their customers in the future, maintaining sensitivity to their input and potential reservations throughout the transition.
The industrial design process will be incumbent in this transition to Level 3 Autonomy. Jeevak was the perfect moderator for this panel, as he himself is a rallying voice for the necessity of Industrial Design and the inclusion of the user’s perspective in the core value proposition of a product. Indeed, there is no other vehicle by which the end users’ unspoken needs and unarticulated desires are squeezed into the product itself. This discipline that keeps the user at the center and responds to intuitive human behavior, emotions, and aspirations is what we have championed here at Sundberg-Ferar for over 85 years. In interior automotive user experience and beyond, the user is what matters. Industrial Design upholds the user in their rightful place: Driving the process.
SAE is the leader in connecting and educating engineers while promoting, developing and advancing aerospace, commercial vehicle and automotive engineering. Their mission is advancing mobility knowledge and enabling safe, clean and accessible mobility solutions for the benefit of humanity. For more on SAE, click here.
WCX™ World Congress Experience is the mobility industry’s most-anticipated annual event for forward-thinking engineers, executives, OEMs, suppliers, decision-makers, disruptors and the entire spectrum of the mobility-engineering field. From IoT, Big Data and connectivity to automated and unmanned vehicles, and from safety, blockchain and powertrain to sustainability and cybersecurity, WCX covers every corner of the industry—right in the beating heart of The Motor City. For more on WCX click here.