Automotive UX: Superior UX approaches by leading car manufacturers in 2022
The automotive industry as we all know it today is leading the design industry with a modernized approach that is user-centric and experience-focused.
Automotive UX Supremacy
Automotive UX is on the rise with Automobile Industries hopping on the trend, and the provision of an exceptional UX is the top priority of leading car manufacturers. UX is a USP (Unique Selling Point) in the modern-day automobile industry and it must be catered to the masses.
Automakers are designing the next generation of cars with user experience (UX) at the forefront. The merging of physical and digital-driven by electrification, connectivity, self-driving technology, and fluid ownership models — will give rise to unprecedented user experiences.
In this article, you’ll find a few amazing approaches and stand-out points that are being taken by leading car manufacturers in the year 2022.
At this very moment, if you were to step into a vehicle made in 2022 and pay attention to the interior dash designs, technologies, and interfaces, there is no doubt that you would notice a remarkable difference between that car, and say, the 2012 model of the same vehicle. The journey has been thrilling and every manufacturer is trying to up their game in the experience department.
To start with, here’s an example of a 2012 Mercedes S-Class (left) and a 2022 model of the same car.
The fact is, that UX and UI design have made this transition possible, making significant contributions to the automotive industry as a whole. Yet, somehow, it’s easy to forget just how connected and related UX/UI and automobiles are.
Safety & Comfort Features
The integration of safety and software into vehicles made a huge difference by allowing the drivers to cast and mimic their smartphone data directly into their driving experience (ie. Car Play, AndroidAuto) and also allowing them to interact with their vehicle via. Voice Commands, but also protected the drivers from making common human errors leading to mishaps.
Many prominent features which now are common in mass production cars also helped add safety and a better driving experience altogether for the customers. Two of these features are —
- Fatigue detection & Driver Drowsiness Indicator
A car safety technology that helps prevent accidents caused by the driver getting drowsy. Various studies have suggested that around 20% of all road accidents are fatigue-related, up to 50% on certain roads. - Blind Spot Monitoring System
The working of this system is relatively simple. A proximity sensor is installed on either side of the vehicle now if any vehicle (car, motorcycle, or truck) comes near from the side, a light (usually on the ORVMs) will indicate the same. This helps the diver in knowing when there is any vehicle around their vehicle, saving them from a potential crash. - Turn Signal Cameras
Blind-spot monitors and surround-view camera systems are smart features offered by most companies. A combination of both of them is turn signal cameras. These systems display the view behind the car when the driver activates a turn signal. - Parallel Park Assist
The parallel park assist is a prime example of responding to consumer needs if we consider that, in a recent poll, 15% of motorists in the UK said that parallel parking creates anxiety, while 47% of drivers admitted to giving up on a parallel park. 1 in 4 also admitted to having to let someone else finish the parking procedure for them. Without question, a vehicle that can complete parallel parking and requires the least amount of effort possible, where a driver simply finds a space they want to park, pushes a lever on the steering wheel, and lets the vehicle park itself and take all the risk — talk about luxury!
Such features cater to the needs of a driver, a true UX design.
The ability to customize and personalize how we interact with our products is mainly because of User experience. With vehicles, we see these capabilities growing year after year allowing drivers to fulfill their specific needs and preferences. The digitalization inside a vehicle allows the driver to completely program the color of the vehicles’ interior lighting or even project the speedometer from the dashboard onto the bottom of the windshield. Other luxuries include rearview mirrors equipped with cameras that allow you to see the entire road behind you, and we must not forget about the revolutionary backup camera, which has probably saved thousands in damaged bumpers and public property.
Again, these features you now have on your vehicle did not just appear, they were highly sought after by the user and thought of by the designers, and those who manufacture vehicles used this feedback to solve problems and improve your experiences.
Every manufacturer in this industry is acing the design part and the feel of the cars but some manufacturers stand out in 2022. Here’s a list of a few features never thought of before.
To shed some light on this, included below are just some of the areas in which user design and interfacing have helped enhance our modern driving experience and some stand-out features by different car manufacturers.
1. MG (Morris Garages)
USB port integrated into the IRVM (Inside Rearview Mirror)
The designers at MG definitely deserve a raise and appreciation for the integration of a USB port into the IRVM, i.e. The inside rearview mirror.
Now, who could have thought that the addition of a USB port on the IRVM could be so useful, and what purpose does it even solve?
The position of the USB port was very well thought off and strategically placed on the IRVM itself. I’ll tell you what benefit it does!
Everybody knows how car insurance works and that people have started installing Dash Cams in their cars for documenting their drive for their own safety and security.
Now the way this feature comes in handy is for cable management. Nobody likes dangling cables be it in their homes or their cars either.
To date, if you had to mount a dash cam on your car’s windshield you had to connect it with a socket that provides it with power with the help of a long cable running through your car’s center console & dashboard.
MG nailed the integration of a USB port in IRVM so that there’s no need for long cables to power your Dashcam.
Now the designers just didn’t stop here. They have a whole lot of other features up their sleeves as well. The major leap that MG took was making the entire experience available to the masses by not charging a premium.
Cars with a Personal AI assistant, an Alexa enabled AI bot
MG Astor’s personal AI assistant depicts human-like emotions and voice.
Cars with Advanced driver-assistance systems
MG is leaving no stones unturned for the safety of its customers.
MG has partnered with BOSCH for ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance systems) in Astor. AI technology, six radars, and five cameras equip the SUV to manage 14 advanced Autonomous Level 2 features. The car ensures a safer driving experience with 27 standard safety features like ESP(Electronic Stability Program), TCS (Traction Control System), and HDC (Hill Descent Control).
2. Ford (Mach-E)
Integrating the Volume Control Knob in the Infotainment Unit
This feature is something subjective to the customer. I personally like to change the volume using the volume knob as it's satisfying and more convenient for me rather than clicking on some button or having to touch the screen which also makes me take my eyes off the road every time I’ve to locate the touch controls in different cars. The volume knob is a traditional method to change the volume. The Haptic feedback that is felt is also amazing.
Ford not only nailed the design and placement of the Knob but also the integration and actual production of the entire Infotainment Unit. The Knob rests at the bottom of a huge interactive touch screen with an option to switch the multimedia system off as well using touch sensitivity.
3. Tesla
Fundamentally, Tesla grabbed the opportunity to build ground-up what customers would want from an automobile similar to how Apple did with the Experience of the iPhone, and Tesla has established itself as the benchmark for modernized driving, both in relation to technology and UX design, but even more so in their progressive approach for self-driving software and harm-prevention programming, which inevitably has set up a new area for UX designers and developers to explore and expand upon.
The first big trend is fighting the status quo of bad car interfaces. New companies like Tesla are trying to distinguish themselves through innovative UX. But also designers are putting effort into creating an in-car UX like no other. Owning a Tesla is in itself a whole different and thrilling experience.
A few important things to mention are:-
One is the Front End Experience and Interface with what the customer interacts with, i.e. everything from pictures to voice recognition whatever a customer would need must be available for them right away and a similar experience kind of shifts to the in-car experience and it becomes an extension of the entire experience being provided to the customer.
Secondly, the Ecosystem Must be Full-proof & Connectivity must be seamless just so that the experience isn’t limited to a particular product. The ecosystem isn’t about a single product, it’s about a whole array of technology that, when used together, is more than the sum of its parts.
The most important thing Tesla did right is building the entire ecosystem full-proof (Infrastructure to scale and support the operations so that when a customer interacts not only with the car but outside the car also as well, they interact with the company. Anything to do with Tesla the experience really carries forward seamlessly.
Also, with the inclusion of OTA (on the air) Updates customers now don’t have to wait for their cars to get updated in the service centers.
This is the fundamental difference to how they built the EV (Electric-vehicle) industry ground up and also the UX (User Experience) which is a State of the art and a leap from where things were.
As traditionally over time there were only incremental changes as all of us know but with tesla coming in we have a lot of innovative companies coming up trying to bring new and better innovations.
Automotive UX as a whole
When surrounded by such distinctive tools, it’s so easy to forget that UX design is the primary component in finalizing these features and new software capabilities, though, in reality, they were created as a response to consumer demand, solving common driving problems in an effort to truly create a more well-rounded, worry-free driving experience. Even the introduction of voice commands, allowing a user to change songs or text a colleague without ever taking their eyes off the road is a prime example of how technology and UX design have contributed to the automotive sector.
Above all, the car manufacturers are also primarily focusing on their own User-Interface in the Infotainment Unit. Companies like Ford, Tesla, General Motors, MG(Morris Garages), MERCEDES, BMW, and Volkswagen all have their own Research & Development department working on their lab-made software that goes in the Infotainment Unit and with which the customers interact in their journey.
The takeaway
- Today, it may seem daunting & difficult to create the perfect in-car UX but we’ve already come a long way from where we were
- Car manufacturers should apply key usability principles to their User Experience Design
- The goal should be to craft a safe, easy to use, and enjoyable experience and how the entire experience would be designed to make it seamless, personalized, and life-like and integrate it into the product.
- Tesla is far ahead in the race and the rest of the manufacturers are still trying to catch up.
- If we look at it from a UX perspective, there is always room for improvements and innovations.
- UX/UI Design Trends will continue to shape the Automotive industry.
This is about it for this story, I think we live in extremely exciting times, the last 5 years and the coming 10 years will be so hugely disruptive and it’s an exciting thing to be part of that. The automobile industry has been at the forefront of shaping this transition in mobility with the experience curated that is personalized and evolving that concept from design to production units.
We’re in the middle of a transformational moment for the automobile. There’s the road ahead is powered by electric, driverless technologies.
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