BMW’S head of design on cars of the future
We spent a few minutes with BMW’S head of design, Adrian van Hooydonk, to get a glimpse of the cars of the future
ON PREDICTING AND SETTING TRENDS
It’s impossible to predict the future accurately; it’s a bit of a black box. Dictating trends is also impossible as customers can’t be controlled. No one can determine what people will like in 10 years. But that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve. My team and I are working on cars that’ll come out in the year 2022-23, and they’ll be on the market for seven years. So we’re actually making design decisions right now at our studios in Munich that’ll have to last until 2030. It’s a tall order because if you look at the speed of change in technology, and other fields, such as architecture, in society in general, it’s very hard to imagine what the world will look like in 2030.
People on our design team are usually fine-tuned when it comes to spotting changes coming in society and design. I try to keep in touch with other creatives, architects, industrial designers and artists, and I engage with them a lot about the future. But in the end, each brand has to make its own decisions about its products. And I think what BMW’S doing is true to what our heritage is, but moving it forward, towards the future. With every vehicle, we have to add something new, yet somehow we have to be able to trace a century’s worth of history. But you should never repeat things – it’s not a healthy cycle to find yourself in.
ON THE FUTURE OF INTERIORS
I think interiors will bring the most radical changes we’ve ever seen in our lifetime. Cars will become so intelligent that they’ll be able to drive autonomously, and we may produce vehicles without steering wheels. I can see it happening. I wouldn’t say that all BMWS will be like that because that’d shock customers and they’d run away. We still want to deliver a very engaging driving sensation. The way we look at our future products is
that we want each BMW to offer two features: Ease and Boost. In the Ease scenario, you can relax. The car will take over. You can do other things – watch a movie, browse the net or read emails. In Boost mode, you’ll be in control. You’ll be driving, and artificial intelligence will be there to help give you the ideal driving line and turn you into a better driver. For us, the key element in all of this is that the driver will determine who’s in control. Nobody wants to be controlled by a machine. Our customers certainly want to decide for themselves as they’re discerning people. So we’ll see, but probably in the next 10 years, all of our cars will run autonomously for certain amounts of time. I definitely believe BMW will produce something without a steering wheel in the next decade or so.
ON HOW SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS CHANGE DESIGN
We’ve been looking at how to approach sustainability for years. Our factories have minimal impact on the environment. In terms of design, there’re two things you can do. One is to create something that’s sustainable and works well for a long time – something that people hold on to, pass down or resell. I think BMW does that quite well. Most of the cars we made years ago are still on the road today.
The other aspect is to look at the materials you use. Since we started the “I” range, we delved deeper into material research. As a result, we started using more recycled materials and considering what happens after the production cycle. For example, with the i3, we knew the car was going to have a zero-emissions feature, which is good, but once you achieve that, people will ask other questions: how much energy did it take to make this car? What’s it made of? Can you recycle it? We have to consider that.
ON HOW CONCEPT CARS FUEL DEVELOPMENT
I’m happy with how we were able to translate this with the i8. I would like to think it’s shortened the gap. On the other hand, if you look at some concept cars from the ’70s, it’s also quite difficult to achieve that kind of impact, because they look like UFOS today. It’s hard to make that same impression now because, through movies, people have seen it all.
It’s that much harder. On the one hand, you want a concept car to be so far out that people are wowed by it, but on the other, you want to put it into production – and people expect you to.
One example was the Next 100 concept, and our task was for that was to look a century ahead.
And when the company asked, I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m only human. I can’t do that. Let’s give it another 30 years.’ And it was our vision for what a 3 Series could be in 30 years. I told our engineering team they wouldn’t have to worry about introducing some of that technology now – only in 30 years. We showed the car and received fantastic reactions. Then, something unexpected happened: the engineers came back to me and said, ‘You told us we couldn’t do this, but we’re working on it now.’ So the design triggered their ambition, and now we’re working on some of that technology. Sometimes, concepts can speed up development or, at least, give it some direction.
‘I think interiors will bring the most radical changes we’ve ever seen in our lifetime. Cars will become so intelligent’