Romulus Rost on autonomous vehicles

Former Volkswagen group designer Romulus Rost knows a thing or two about interiors and future-facing design. 

He is credited with numerous high-profile projects, most notably the interior of the first Audi TT and the radical XL1 concept. Now technically ‘retired’, he is still very much prominent at industry events and jokes that he is now “head of his own circus.” Behind closed doors, the enthusiastic and thoughtful Romanian-born designer has also worked on some driverless vehicles. 

Speaking to Car Design News from the sidelines of the SUE autonomous shuttle launch near Ingolstadt, he reflected on what this burgeoning field means for designers creatively and why interior design is at the heart of it.

Car Design News: How significant is the topic of autonomous driving for today’s designers?

Romulus Rost: It is a very interesting challenge, and from a design perspective, it's so nice to be able to do something new. It’s a new way of moving people alongside the tube or buses or whatever else. Autonomous driving would not be the solution to mobility in all these mega cities, and more a case of in certain areas. It's a very challenging yet interesting field of design work that we all have to do now.

CDN: Would you say it's more of an exterior design story or an interior design story?

RR: It is definitely an interior design story. You have to enjoy your stay – it's different to a taxi cab. It has to be a moving space that is clean, simple to book, easy to get in and out, and comfortable. This means the choice of materials is important to create an environment that you really want to get in. And those materials for autonomous cars will be different if they are for public rather than private use.

With private autonomous cars, this is really where you can almost do anything from a design perspective. There could be one-off interiors for people with particular use cases they desire. Maybe somebody wants to go for golfing, somebody else wants to only have a relaxing drive to the airport, or someone else wants their kids to get to school safely. It's a completely open field and very interesting to follow as it develops.

CDN: The cabin needs to be inviting, doesn't it?

RR: It does. Riders should want to step in and enjoy their time, be it five minutes, ten minutes, or longer. The challenge is to make it as easy as possible to book – as easy if not easier than something like Uber.

CDN: So it's a big user experience story as well, really, isn't it?

It's fun because it's something genuinely new, design wise

RR: It is a massive user experience story. And this is what it's able to offer [to poorly connected areas]. It’s easy in London or Berlin, but in lots of areas you cannot book an Uber or something similar. Before the interior itself, the challenge is how to make it inviting to keep getting into the car and using the service.

CDN: Have you worked on any autonomous vehicle projects yourself?

RR: I worked at a couple of projects when I was still head of interior at the Potsdam studio. We did this autonomous project for the Deutsche Post – our equivalent of Royal Mail – which was designed for package deliveries. It would make its way from house to house.

CDN: I believe it was the Potsdam studio did the Gen.Travel concept, too? 

RR: Yeah, but it was after my time.

CDN: Fair enough. But with the autonomous projects you did work on, were they fun?

RR: Yeah, definitely. Because it's something genuinely new, design wise. It's very interesting and very challenging at the same time to put your focus on different things. You have a completely different driving experience, you can relax and the aim is to have an environment that invites you in and makes you feel happy in this moving object.

CDN: Do you think we will see new job titles soon? Will there be a head of autonomous vehicle design at some point?

RR: I hope it's not a separate job title because everybody in the design department should work together. An autonomous car designer and a normal car designer should learn from each other. The experience you have from one field can always be brought to another. I'm not a fan of separating those functions, making little islands or workspaces. You need to have this exchange in design experience.