Audi has revealed that the interiors of its future models will take priority and will actually be designed before the exteriors of new vehicles.
Audi design boss Marc Lichte recently had the opportunity to speak with Top Gear at the unveiling of the Audi Activesphere Concept. During the event, Licht noted that he put Sid Odedra, the head of UI/UX design, in the center of Audi’s design activities to lead the change.
“In the past the process was always the same: in the beginning, there was the combustion engine and platform,” Lichte described. “Then together with sales and marketing, we decided two-seater, or four-seater or six- or seven-seater, then we start designing the exterior design and in the end, interior. The future is exactly the opposite. And that’s why I put Sid [Odedra] and his department in the center of our design activities. It starts in Sid’s department and it ends there, because we start thinking about the use case.”
Read: Audi Urbansphere Concept Is An Electric Minivan That’s Longer Than A Cadillac Escalade
Top Gear also had the opportunity to speak with Odedra who noted that “human centricity” will be the core of what Audi does in the future.
“We start with ‘what are the human needs?’ Human centricity is at the core of what we do. What does the user need? And then we build an interface because that’s the relationship between the user and the vehicle,” he said. “And then we build an interior around that, and then we build an exterior.”
Audi’s new Activesphere concept takes the form of an off-road-focused coupe crossover and has a particularly intriguing interior. It comes complete with four lounge chair-like seats with integrated armrests and headrests. The vehicle also features a dashboard that can swivel and disappear along with the steering wheel and pedals when the vehicle is in autonomous driving mode. The interior even features four mixed-reality headsets stored in the ceiling.
If the Activesphere Concept is a preview of what to expect from Audi interiors in the future, we should all be very excited.
