Cabins Reimagined

Automated driving technologies, electrification, and shifting customer priorities are inspiring the transformation of vehicle cockpit design and materials.

While there are yet no privately owned, fully automated vehicles on the road, automakers and suppliers are working to develop vehicle interior technologies, materials and designs they think will serve occupants not just of SAE Level 4 automated vehicles (AVs), but users of the advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) and electric vehicles that will serve in the transition to full automation. It's a black art consisting of equal parts experience, forecasting, creative design and innovative engineering.

The new dictates of interacting with ADAS-equipped and electrified vehicles - as well as the still-embryonic sector of automated ride-hailing and ridesharing services - are showing the way for what the long-discussed “cabin of the future” might look like and what technologies it will offer.