Work at Volkswagen Group Future Center Europe

From 2021 to 2024 I've been a UX Designer and Creative Technologist at Future Center Europe, a unique Volkswagen Group facility where the mobility of tomorrow is explored. At Future Center Europe, designers, engineers, and researchers from many different countries rethink the future of mobility to inspire the whole Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, SEAT, Cupra, Škoda, Bentley, Ducati, Scout Motors, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles). Future Center Europe is one of three studios worldwide of this kind, with the other two located in California and Beijing, China.

At Future Center Europe I worked on various projects and topics, such as autonomous driving, shared mobility, generative AI, and circularity & sustainability. My role involved conceptualizing and designing digital user interfaces, developing novel interaction mechanics, and creating prototypes to test and validate these concepts.

As of right now I can only show publicly a small fraction of my work due to tight non-disclosure agreements. Watch this space, more may be coming later ☺️.

Years: 2021 - 2024

Keywords: Autonomous Driving, Generative AI, Circularity & Sustainability, Shared Mobility, Mobility-as-a-Service, UX / UI Design, Software-Prototyping, Creative Coding, Sound Design

Project: A Digital User Interface for the Gen.Urban

The Gen.Urban is a fully autonomous mobility-as-a-service vehicle designed without traditional controls such as pedals or a steering wheel.

Creating the Gen.Urban Digital Experience

In close collaboration with different Volkswagen Group teams, my team and I conceptualized, designed, and prototyped the holistic digital user experience of the Gen.Urban — across screens, lighting, and sound design at all stages from booking to riding.

As the interface designer on the team, I developed key concepts and interaction mechanics for the in-car UI and mobile companion app, software-prototyped and tested them, and defined the design system and visual design language.

Here is a glimpse of the UI we created for the Gen.Urban. Instead of a steering wheel and pedals, the Gen.Urban features a large theater screen:

The Gen.Urban at Volkswagen Group DRIVE Berlin, ART x TECH night

Project: Digital In-Car Experiences for the SEM

The SEM research concept explores the future of autonomous, premium mobility in urban environments. Designed as a shared vehicle, it is intended to adapt to a variety of use cases, from family outings to business meetings.

In early development phases, I collaborated with my team to design digital in-car experiences that would support and enhance these different scenarios.

Since most of our work was done in secrecy, I can only show a fraction of what I created at Future Center Europe.