Exploring Opportunities for Adopting Generative AI in Automotive Conceptual Design

Abstract For AI to responsibly enable and enhance innovative design processes it is necessary to form an understanding of what processes and tools designers currently use, and why. This work employed remote interviews and an in-person workshop (respectively 8 and 6 different designers) to investigate the challenges and opportunities professional automotive designers anticipate towards generative AI tools in the conceptual design phase. The findings indicate that these designers prioritize novelty and value efficiency. Key challenges are finding relevant inspirational images and documentation due to fixation concerns. Although current AI lacks explainability, designers respect its potential to streamline design processes if its outputs can support the collaborative development of innovative automotive designs.