Renault Experience Vision

Date

From Marsh 2021 to september 2021

Skills

Product design, Design Research, UX, UI, Rapid Prototyping

A space designed for design

When I joined the Experience Vision Team for my end of study internship, I saw this opportunity as one of the best way to get experience in design research as the Renault technocentre of Guillancourt is a gigantic space of experimentation covering all aspects of design and engineering.

Plus being part of this research team was a particularly exciting role as we are in contact with all the specialties of design in the company in order to develop the “vision”, which will drive the experience design in the future vehicles of the brand for the next 7 to 10 years. This is a prospective work centered around experimentation, and the company gives its designer the tools needed to quickly test and iterate as we were linked to a team of creative coders using technologies such as Unity and the Unreal engine to develop prototypes in VR or/and in life-sized cockpits.

A period of change and innovation

I had the chance to realize my internship during what is I believe one of the most challenging times for the Renault Group. Due to covid, climate change, arrestation of the former CEO… the company was facing economic difficulties and a complete shift in its activities. But from these tough times emerged a lot of innovations such as Mobilize, a car-sharing brand, or the decision to produce only electric vehicles… This period of change entirely revolved around design. The group had to find a new vision.

Therefore newcomers and young designers were given great responsibilities at that time and the design process fostered the emergence of new ideas thanks to direct channels between the designers and the direction. My team participated in weekly presentations directly to the head of design. I personally did, on several occasions expose and defend the UX concept I designed in front of Gilles Vidal and Laurens Van Den Acker, two renowned automotive designers. It was a challenging but enriching opportunity.

Conclusion

This internship was an excellent opportunity for experimentation and creativity as the vision team is dedicated to prospective design. It was a pleasure to have all the tools and architecture to optimize the design process through fast iteration loops.

I had the opportunity to work on the driver -> Steering wheel -> HUD axis in the early stages of the development of the " design vision" that today took shape in the newly revealed Renault Scénic Vision concept car. And even if in the end I didn’t choose to continue in the path of automotive design research, I enjoy to see these concepts come to life in a public demonstration of design experimentation.