Could the Coronavirus change the way cars are currently designed?

The impact of the global health crisis caused by the Coronavirus or COVID-19, whatever we choose to call it, has led many car manufacturers to close their plants and delay the presentation of countless models, but it will also have more lasting consequences for the industry. Some sources have contacted several designers, who have stated that it is very likely the car design, as we know it, will change as a result of the pandemic that is sweeping through the entire population.

Gorden Wagener, Daimler’s design director, has explained that “the pandemic will change our perception of how we will experience safety and luxury in the future“. These statements have also been confirmed by another designer, namely Felix Kilbertus of Rolls-Royce, who added that “the future, more than ever, will be about the freedom to go to safe places, and these cars will be based more than ever on their interior.”

This will probably mean that car manufacturers will focus on providing a healthier interior environment, while several companies already offer advanced air filtration systems. This is the case of Jaguar Land Rover, which has been experimenting with the use of ultraviolet light to stop the spread of bacteria and viruses. Last year, the company pointed out that ultraviolet light technology could be incorporated into the climate control system to neutralise harmful pathogens. That is certainly an interesting idea now, given how the Coronavirus spreads.

How will cars be designed in the short and medium term?

Some car manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz, are even experimenting with improving the air in the cabin. Wagener has not gone into detail, but has hinted that “we are working on the idea that the car could take bad things out of the air, and almost clean the air.”

Of course, safety extends beyond air quality and, in some cases, that means privacy, as well as more conventional security measures such as alarms and motion sensors. Speaking of the latter, the sentry mode of Tesla has proven popular, as it uses cameras to record suspicious activity. This has caught several people behaving badly, and the system feels like a natural extension of the intercom cameras found in many homes.

There are also some more extravagant ideas, including a so-called invisibility cloak. Rolls-Royce is exploring the idea, and Kilbertus has pointed out that it could allow cars to go unnoticed by potential attackers. Either way, we will have to wait a few months to see how car plants return to normal after the impact of this pandemic…