Cars have evolved greatly since they have been invented. The design changed and it came with plenty of additions despite the fact that it remained the same at core. However, it appears that the future for cars has not even begun yet, and we can expect some impressive cars that will be different from what we are accustomed to.
Simon Ng, Head of Design & Manufacturing Industry, Autodesk Southeast Asia offered an interview where he explained how the future of design will look like for automobiles. He also mentioned some modern inventions such as cars that do not need drivers and the increasingly electric cars.
Costs do affect the design
A car company cannot do whatever it wants, and customers have to remain the main priority. Creating a new car is a risky move and it cannot be done is the costs are not covered. Therefore, the company has to analyze the wishes of the customers first.
“Big car companies have an existing customer base to take care of, and have this paradigm where they cannot cross the Rubicon. They have a whole ecosystem of dealers and suppliers… There are a lot of people who have invested billions of dollars worldwide. This commercial aspect must be taken care of,” Simon explained.
That is also the reason why companies come with plenty of prototypes and not all of them actually make it. “Most car companies used to make clay models to show themselves finished product to decide if they should go ahead. Because it might be a billion-dollar decision,” added Ng.
Autonomous cars
According to Ng, the future of automobiles will include plenty of independent cars. There are some new additions that managed to change the car market, and they are here to stay. “It’s not just electric cars. This links to autonomous systems that every car company today is looking into. Even Apple and Google is doing it (…) This technology is not actually new. Active cruise control or smart cruise control has lane guidance, self-parking has been around. Connect all of this together and you get an autonomous car,” said Ng.
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