Monthly focus: Autonomous vehicles

As the question shifts from ‘where will you go’ to ‘how will you spend your time while getting there’, autonomous vehicles move beyond driver-focused ergonomics and reframe the cabin as an experience.

With this comes an evolution in vehicle design inside and out. New seating arrangements beckon and exterior forms may be rethought as a result, optimised for layouts that offer both comfort and passenger entertainment.

Autonomous vehicles also hold hopes of finally providing truly accessible travel for all. Take the Toyota Boshoku concept for example: this autonomous shuttle is designed to be accessible to everyone, with the 15-second ‘Easy Docking’ system that securely holds a wheelchair. Chief branding officer at Toyota Boshoku Richard Chung explained the strong emotional reaction to the concept, “we had an overwhelming response. They said that this has answered their prayers because there is so much pain in the travel experience today.”

Beyond accessibility, this shift in rider-driver positioning poses an interesting question for designers: how should we sit in an autonomous car, and what would the optimal configuration be?

As Karl Smith wrote recently, the apparent leaders in autonomous systems tend to prefer a traditional seating configuration, with both Waymo and Tesla using modified versions of standard vehicles for their autonomous test vehicles. When looking at production cars, most highway pilot features operate under Level 2 autonomy (such as Supercruise, Autopilot etc), where drivers are ultimately still in control. As such, the user experience and layout is business as usual. 

On the opposing side is the lounge configuration, where seats face each other. This is the layout Amazon-backed Zoox has gone for, although concerns about motion sickness remain. Another seating arrangement can be seen in the Nucleus concept by Icona, which has a modular seating configuration — again with no steering wheel.

Whatever the seating arrangement, there is serious investment into autonomous driving with driverless taxis from Waymo to be on London’s roads next year, Baidu to launch driverless taxi trials in Switzerland in December 2025 and Madrid currently testing the first autonomous bus made in Spain.

With increased testing comes a higher likelihood of crashes, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles reporting close to 900 self-driving collisions to date. The most recent occurred earlier this week, with a Waymo taxi killing a neighbourhood cat named ‘KitKat’ in San Fransico’s Mission District. In response, Waymo donated an unspecified amount to a local animal rights organisation.

Incidents like these do nothing to help autonomous vehicles’ lack of emotional connection to the human world. But carmakers are now actively aiming to strengthen this connection. For example, the Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic concept aims to make the experience “quite emotional” through a glamorous and dramatic design that draws upon the familiarity of heritage, according to head of global advanced design Stefan Lamm.

It's the seamless integration of autonomous technology with a compelling design that can make an AV appealing. Bentley’s design director Robin Page notes that some sensors "are big and we need to incorporate them into traditional designs.”

Daniel Hundt, co-founder of Nuro, an autonomous vehicle company founded by two former Waymo engineers, agrees and adds, “our design philosophy is built on two principles: effortless and human. Every detail reflects our belief in humanising technology. We embrace the balance between the robotic and the human, creating technology that feels trustworthy.”

Trust is key and a major hurdle for getting first-time riders on side: will the robotaxi know to stop when someone steps out into traffic? Does it know the right route to take? Will it let me out when I reach the destination? A factor that could combat this lack of trust is encouraging relaxation through design. Scott King, director of Full Fathom (a creative agency specialising in multisensory branding) explains:

“We know if the interior of a vehicle was bathed in certain colours, that could either stimulate or encourage relaxation. You can almost deliver different bespoke sensory environments that are in tune with different driving modes. With AVs it can be about accentuating the in-cabin experience for everyone – because there isn’t a driver who needs to stay alert.”

This sensory and emotional experience in autonomous vehicles is something that the future generation of automotive designers is already thinking about. 

For example, Coventry University BA student Aman Naikwar designed ‘Cherish’ which aims to restore the emotional bond between vehicle and people by projecting memories into real life through a multi-sensory experience. Moon Sung Min presented the ‘Novissima’ hearse, where the autonomous nature of the vehicle allows the coffin to be in the front of the hearse, with the family looking over in a bench seating arrangement for comfort. There are so many other visions for what an autonomous vehicle could offer, from rolling gyms and restaurants to hotels and live racing 'simulators' that take passengers on fast laps around a track. 

Keep an eye on Car Design News for interviews with key players in the autonomous vehicle field as we continue to explore this monthly focus.