“The interaction between human and vehicle needs to be optimised” – Chery’s VP of design Steven Eum on human-centred design

In continuation of CDN’s monthly focus on human-centred design it’s important to consider China – a country that’s investing lots of time and money at speed into ensuring their automotive products are as appealing to customers as possible.  

Chery – an OEM that contains sub-brands Omoda, Jaecoo, Lepas, iCaur, Rely, Exeed and Jetour – has been ranked 11thon a list of the biggest Chinese global brand builder, according to a 2026 ranking and research report conducted by Kantar, and only has ambitions to grow further.  

Therefore, human-centred design is one of Chery’s main design pillars informing the likes of the return of tactile buttons as well as the integration of emerging technologies. For Eum, the focus remains on making the interaction between person and vehicle as intuitive as possible.  

CDN sat down with Steven Eum, VP of design at Chery, to discuss further… 

Car Design News: One of the main battles of human-centred design is the balance between screens and tactility – how are you tackling this? 

Steve Eum: In automotive design, it’s very important to us – especially from a leftist design standpoint – that we have high visual quality. This perception of getting a lot of value for money but also top quality is a designer’s responsibility. I think people still want to engage and have tactility, that’s very important and I’m a strong supporter of that so we brought a lot of that back – especially for some of the interior door handles and features like more tactile buttons that actually have more feedback. If you’re going off-roading and your trying hard to hit that one button on the screen, it’s a very hard task [laughs] so we’ve listened to our consumers who want these tactile features back in the vehicles. It’s also good for us as we get to then design those features. 

CDN: With the rise of AI and other technologies, how do you make the interactions within the vehicle feel human beyond tactile buttons? 

SE: The transition to autonomous and electric vehicles is happening much faster than we thought. Therefore, the interaction between the human and vehicle needs to be optimised. We don’t want to make it more complicated than it should be so a lot of the black technology (screens) we hope to incorporate into the background. Design of course plays a major role in trying to make this more harmonious, like with the radars and lidars that aren’t particularly visually pleasing, but hopefully this can become a quieter design feature going forward.  

From a design perspective, the biggest challenge is how do we design around the technology

CDN: Can you expand on your point of optimising the relationship between human and vehicle? 

SE: The fast pace of everything that’s happening digitally is reminiscent of when the computer was invented. China is at the forefront of this, and of course there’s the AI race between China and the US to consider. What’s important to consider is the holistic interaction between man and machine – it’s such a natural interaction. In the Chery Group we’re developing new black technology. Nobody really knows where the next technology is going to evolve, but it is somewhat secretive, innovative and aggressive in terms of supporting automotive. 

CDN: With this, do you think the design of gadgets has fundamentally changed the way designers work? 

SE: We’re constantly improving and optimising, but the tools are always catching up with what we’re trying to do – not just in terms of 3D printing but also things like virtual reality. We’re trying to get the product out there as soon as possible so that we somehow shorten the development process for automotive design. Having said that, I think AI is going to play a big part. I know there’s talk about doom and gloom talk about AI, but in terms of actual specifics in the automotive field, there’s a huge benefit of trying to support the safety aspect of driving. Now whether that becomes autonomous, whether AI takes over, that’s a huge benefit in terms of getting from point A to point B safely and comfortably – and even having a better interaction with an AI partner or the passengers. From a design perspective, the biggest challenge is how do we design around the technology. Is it just going to be completely invisible or do we have some sort of design cue or element that supports the whole experience? 

CDN: Do you think that AI would ever be able to replace the craft of a designer? 

SE: I think true craftsmanship is very hard to emulate with AI. There’s a certain authenticity that comes with craftsmanship. You can feel a human touch. Having said that, I think manufacturing techniques are becoming a lot more sophisticated in terms of trying to emulate that. Going back to the word craftsmanship, I think we have to redefine the word in a more digital context. I think the word craftsmanship just means more of the authenticity of the human touch.