Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG – “Sitzkiste”

Mobility of the future cannot be described – it must be experienced live. Under this motto, we have designed and developed a new system for our customer Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG for the IAA Frankfurt to demonstrate driving in the future. With the new “Sitzkiste”, Kostal is able to visualize the enormous changes in the area of human-machine interaction in the vehicle live and tangible for its customers. The goal: to engage in a discussion with the customer about the next generation of vehicles and thus solve the challenges of changing mobility.

Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG is a driver of change in this market and sees its electronic components as enabling the next generation of vehicles. According to the managing partner Andreas Kostal, shaping the future has been a daily requirement and daily challenge at Kostal for over 100 years.

But how will our mobility and vehicles actually change in the future? This question is currently driving the entire industry, as the many and varied influences make developments almost unpredictable. And if the legendary “crystal ball” is not at hand at the moment, the future must be opened up in a different way.

Although we cannot see into the future, we have developed methods and processes to approach the development of the future. In this approach, we create a picture of the future together with our customers, from which different scenarios can be derived. This is where our unique consulting service comes in. With the GD Innovation Roadmap we have created an approach that can provide answers to the VUCA world and thus secure the future of our customers in the long term.

Thus, in the beginning there was a picture of the future and an idea of how the consumers will use their cars in the future. Therefore the development of persons and scenarios for a changed understanding of the automotive target customers of today and tomorrow became the key to the development of concrete new products and solutions. Because not only the attitude towards one’s own car is changing, but also the daily use of the vehicle has already begun to change. This process and the reflection on target customers and their usage scenarios ultimately served as a valuable basis for designing new solutions for future mobility.

From a future vision to a future scenario to a tangible demonstration of the driving of tomorrow. What does autonomous driving feel like and how can I steer my vehicle in relax mode? The steering wheel, cockpit, and rotary control will change radically in order to provide good usability in the different driving modes. What activities will we be able to carry out while the vehicle takes over the controls completely autonomously? Time to relax, time to read or simply time to prepare for the next meeting? One thing is certain, since our attention and active intervention will no longer be needed in the future, travel time could become valuable working time. The technology behind this will make an important contribution to offering us as occupants more comfort and safety.

Overview/project scope:
• Target group and persona development
• Development of future scenarios
• Strategy and conception
• Automotive interior
• Product design
• Technical implementation
• Cockpit-, User Interface Design
• Coding HTML, Web GL, MQTT
• Real-time Facial Tracking System Cockpit