► Using generative AI in car design
► Is it a good idea?
► Or could it replace human designers?
Can artificial intelligence better – or even replace – human car designers? It’s being used by design teams across the car world, although their perspectives on its effectiveness and prospects for the future vary significantly.
Among those not shying away from exploring the possibilities is Simon Loasby, head of the Hyundai Design Centre. ‘I remember showing a colleague some images I created on [AI software] Midjourney who was blown away by them,’ he says. ‘Truth be told, it took me the distance from one set of traffic lights to the next when I was [being driven] into Seoul: about 40 seconds.’
The context here is important. The ‘vehicle’ created in 40 seconds was a yacht that he wanted to show a colleague in relation to design ideas around the Hyundai Ioniq 9.
Loasby is far from alone in enjoying the novelty and speed of AI design software, while also engaging very seriously in questions of how to integrate it with the human-led creative process.
Robin Page, design director at Bentley Motors, says: ‘It’s great for things like wheels, components, colour and materials and influence boards. It’s [also] good for the very early research phase, but then you need to create something new.’
Mitja Borkert, design director at Lamborghini, says he was at first a reluctant experimenter. ‘In the beginning I was a bit against AI. So far I’m playing around with it, asking it to create this or that and then defining and creating a complete picture. For me the designs that AI creates are a bit generic. The outcome is interesting sometimes, but there is nothing new.’
This lack of originality makes sense, given the way AI software works by searching for data based on the prompts it is given by a human – in this scenario trawling for existing designs already published digitally somewhere in the world at some point in the past – and melding them into different variations. But to some extent that is how some human designers might also choose to work: study the look of an iconic model from the ’70s, say, and use it as inspiration for a modern car’s LED headlights.
But when the focus switches from details to the challenge of creating a whole new model, the consensus is that this requires an imaginative leap beyond the ability of AI.
Marek Reichman, chief creative officer at Aston Martinsays: ‘I go back to Einstein’s comment, “Knowledge is nothing without imagination.” And AI is nothing without the imagination to use it. That’s why I think it’s important. We can’t ignore it. We have to enhance it.’
‘We have embraced AI,’ says Ralph Gilles, one of the two chief design officers at Stellantis. ‘The difference is we’re not “open sourcing” it. We have our own captive AI that uses basically the same tools, where we load it up with our own work, sketches and previous or live designs. Sometimes we’ll load it up with our own brands and it’ll help us mix ideas. In a very short amount of time, it’s almost like having an extra designer that may create something you wouldn’t have thought of. The young designers love it.’
Privacy around intellectual property has always been a big issue for car manufacturers, who fiercely guard their future designs so rivals can’t copy them. That issue is complicated by AI, which gets better the more data it can access.
‘What is clear is that the most powerful AI tools are “open source” platforms,’ Loasby continues, ‘so for confidential stuff we simply can’t use them. This leads us to develop our own internal company AI and to train it on content that guides it in our direction.’
Brett Patterson, an independent vehicle designer who used AI in the creation of the image below, believes AI has the potential to upend the process of design. ‘Instead of cycles of rough ideation sketches leading to presentation renderings, now the “hero image” can be right at the beginning of the design process,’ he says. ‘And once a direction is chosen then the complete design can be fleshed out through sketches and modelling, using the more familiar design processes. Sketch-based AI tools such as Vizcom also allows designers to guide the AI using their own sketch examples or their brand’s style.’
One thing is certain: AI as a tool for design is here to stay, just like Photoshop and virtual reality. And it’s developing fast, learning from the errors of the early days when AI humans had six fingers and two heads.
Will AI cut the number of human car designers required? Possibly, but most heads of car design remain optimistic. Loasby says: ‘AI isn’t going to take over our jobs, but someone using AI will, so we must use the new tools.’
Guy is CAR magazine's design editor and cultural commentator, and is predictably well connected in the world of car designers and styling departments. Usually found making sense of automotive design matters, but also a dab hand at car news and reviews.
By Guy Bird
Contributor, cultural curator, design commentator