Never fear: Autonomy won't be ugly

For as long as self-driving vehicles have captured the imagination, there have been those unsettled by the prospect of soulless econoboxes and utilitarian pods dominating the roadway.

IMG01RFear not, car enthusiasts. The future need not be frumpy and forlorn.

"Everyone is worried that it's this lowest-cost box," said Larry Erickson, global director of industrial design at Magna. "Is it possible we'll see some things on the road that we wish we didn't see? That's a possibility. But with this many competitors in a global market, the best product is going to win."

Automotive designers are already adapting to accommodate the arrival of autonomous capabilities, contemplating how to package sensors and telecommunications gear in traditional vehicle types. But that's just a start. Looking ahead, they foresee more substantial overhauls that will change the relationship between people and vehicles.

The demands of future-minded vehicle design was a leading topic during the mobility portion of the Los Angeles Auto Show last month. Italian design company Icona attracted a good bit of attention with the unveiling of its Nucleus concept, a two-generations-ahead vehicle that eliminates traditional controls for a human driver and contains a "new understanding of mobile living space."

Icona itself isn't in the business of producing vehicles, but the concept showcased how the company, which says it works with multiple global automakers, might influence products down the road. Samuel Chuffart, global design director for Icona, wants them to think of this as a radical new blueprint.

"I'm almost upset to see these autonomous-driving cars that are … just little cars without a steering wheel," he said. "Come on. We have to wake up, and we have to really be — not a stylist, but an architect. Designers should be architects."

He believes fully autonomous cars should make a stark break from the traditional automotive past. Rather than follow a century's worth of evolutionary changes, he looked to aviation for design cues on the Nucleus, borrowing from the Concorde supersonic jet and the idea that self-driving vehicles need to provide a first-class, airline-style experience for their riders.

"If you buy [a vehicle with] autonomous-driving technology, for sure you don't want it to look like a traditional car," Chuffart said. "You need it to make a big breakthrough. Otherwise, what's the value?"

IMG02RHenrik Fisker, the designer of iconic luxury vehicles, has a blunt message for car enthusiasts lamenting the era when cars became not just a symbol of freedom but an enabler of freedom. That era is already gone.

"The car is not our freedom device anymore," he said. "Our mobile phone is our freedom device."

Fisker is perhaps less concerned with the expressive, emotional performance vehicles that have defined his past and more intrigued by how he might revamp public-transportation vehicles that serve multiple riders in an automated future. He sees a strong market for both — with the mass-market middle hollowed out.

"It's going to be more of a split," he said. "That's why I think you're seeing the sedan dwindling, because it's not the ultimate utility vehicle and it's also not the ultimate sportscar."

With that in mind, coupled with a belief that full autonomy remains years away, Fisker and his company have been working on plans to carve a niche with slow-moving autonomous shuttle buses.

"I think it gives an opportunity for designers to actually make those vehicles desirable, to differentiate them, to differentiate the experience," he said.

Not every autonomous concept has to reinvent the SUV.

When Magna International unveiled its MAX4 self-driving platform in Berlin last year, it did so on a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee. Incorporated into the vehicle's front fascia were the needed lidar sensors — adapted to work within the thicker material and under aerodynamic pressure.

Magna also unveiled flexible seating configurations earlier last week that can help car owners maximize the space in their vehicles with a smartphone app.

These are innovations positioned for the marketplace right around the corner — and might be features that help consumers connect with their cars in new ways, no matter what they look like.

"This general idea of beauty will be a challenge, no question," Erickson said. "But there will be things we embrace. … People have a relationship with their cars that's not only based on how it looks, but the way it works. Somehow, the personality of the thing will transcend."

Douglas A. Bolduc contributed to this report.

Never fear: Autonomy won't be ugly

Automotive designers envision a future in which autonomous vehicles are both functional and stylistically appealing, even as they transform the relationships people now have with their automobiles.