Megatrend interior concepts in the automotive industry could transfer to other transport sectors as consumers demand higher quality standards. Rail and aviation sectors have been used to multiple users of the same product, namely passengers sitting in the same seats and using the same facilities, but without necessarily paying much attention to the impact of repetitive use.
With the advent of Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric (CASE) trends in the auto industry, consumers in other sectors may start to demand vastly improved hygiene standards for multiple use, as well as the use of lighting and scents.
For years traditional car ownership has seen vehicles driven to a place of work and left there unused for several hours a day. However, should the concept of shared and vehicle-on-demand applications become the norm, passenger car users will start to expect much higher cleanliness standards, for example.
Interior component suppliers are actively working in this field, aiming to provide sanitised cockpits, which offer a high degree of hygiene, no matter how many users there are in a day. Increasingly, they are also looking to trends in hospitality, which are capitalising on a desire for authenticity and using natural ingredients and materials inside the car.
It is not just cabin quality though. Consumers will expect all their smart devices to be instantly connectible in whatever vehicle they share or hire, with the eventual advent of autonomous concepts also making traffic jams a potentially productive period rather than wasted time.
Despite the potential for fewer cars being sold as sharing or hiring becomes more commonplace, component suppliers are nonetheless eyeing a significant uptake in cockpit technology as a way to monetise CASE concepts on board the new vehicles.
After years of lagging behind in standardised passenger experiences, other transport sectors may now increasingly look to new automotive interior technologies in a bid to boost marketability.
