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Why does Apple's new CarPlay (still) look so bad?

December 22, 2023 Drew Smith

Apple’s second generation CarPlay as shown in a Porsche instrument panel.

For those interested in automotive UX design, the arrival of Apple’s second generation CarPlay has been eagerly awaited. On the current evidence, we might have waited in vain.

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In Automotive, Design Tags Porsche, Aston Martin, Apple, CarPlay, UX, Design, Culture, Design Research, Interior Design
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On Porsche, CarPlay, and the luxury of consistency

August 7, 2023 Drew Smith

The facelifted Porsche Cayenne allows far greater control of the vehicle's hardware with Apple's CarPlay interface

As GM looks to evict Apple from its instrument panels, Porsche is doubling down. Why? I’d argue that it’s a move entirely consistent with Porsche’s brand values.

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In Automotive, Culture, Design Tags Porsche, CarPlay, Customer Experience, User Experience

Perceived quality and focussing on what matters

August 1, 2023 Drew Smith

Wouldn't it be nice to catch this sort of thing before it wrecks a reputation?

Perceived quality and customer acceptance of new ideas have often been judged on gut feet and qualitative research. Intended Future brings quantitative rigour to the space.

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In Automotive, Design Tags Perceived Quality, Design Quality, Product Strategy, Design Research, Data-informed Design

Cultural lenses on robots, or: why the BMW i Vision Dee freaks some of us out

January 16, 2023 Drew Smith

In the headlong rush to integrate virtual personal assistants in to cars, Eastern history holds some valuable lessons to smooth their adoption in the West.

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In Automotive, Culture Tags BMW, i Vision Dee, Artificial Inteligence, Robotics, Krakuri, Shinto, Animism
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A social theory for why the Mercedes performance subscription will probably fail

December 7, 2022 Drew Smith

A Mercedes-Benz EQS. Image: Mercedes-Benz.

As car makers try to increase margin through subscription services, social networks offer some clues as to how they might succeed.

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In Automotive, Culture, Design
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Colours for the best of times, and the worst of times

December 7, 2022 Drew Smith

Why are people going crazy for flat-coloured cars? I’ve long had a theory that tries to explain this, one that hinges on our fears and our hopes.

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In Automotive, Culture, Design Tags Colour, Ford, Volkswagen, Volvo, Citroen, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, Pastel, Putty, Grant McCracken, Thunderbird, New Beetle, XC40
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Citröen's oli shouts Enough!

September 30, 2022 Drew Smith

In May, I sent out a prayer for an OEM to buck the bigger battery-is-better trend. Citroen’s answered my plea.

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In Automotive, Culture, Design Tags Citroen, Sustainability, EV
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Volvo's Driver Understanding System and the importance of language

September 23, 2022 Drew Smith

Volvo has carefully chosen the words to describe its new safety system. It's right to.

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In Automotive, Design Tags Volvo, ADAS
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On Severance and the automotive industry

July 8, 2022 Drew Smith

Which way do we want to go? A scene from Severance, on Apple TV+

Severance is an allegory for how we try and fail to separate our work lives from our home lives. It’s also an allegory for the danger of keeping ourselves separate from the world we depend on.

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In Culture, Automotive Tags Severance, Isolation, Connection, Cities, Innovation, Mindset

Making sense of restomods

July 6, 2022 Drew Smith

In a world in which the character of cars is under threat, restomods offer brands the chance to keep their weird and wonderful histories front of mind.

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In Culture, Automotive, Design Tags Range Rover, Prodrive, Lancia, Porsche, Singer, Delta Integrale, 928, 911, Citroen, Grant McCracken, Imprezza, Subaru
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