This blog was authored by Hannah Jachim, Researcher
Automotive firms are under pressure to innovate while managing cost and complexity. Margins are tight. Customer expectations are shifting. Yet many OEMs still design for an “average” driver who no longer reflects reality. But when OEMs design for diverse needs, they unlock innovations that create better experiences for everyone – the curb-cut effect – and turn accessibility features into mainstream advantages (see Figure). Our latest report, Design For Inclusion To Drive Growth And Innovation In Automotive, shows that inclusive design is no longer only a compliance or ethical consideration but a strategic lever for growth, innovation, and brand differentiation.
What’s Holding The Industry Back — And How To Move Forward
Long-standing assumptions about target users, brand identity, and design influence how OEMs prioritize features, define users, and make design decisions. These challenges translate into a set of common barriers, with corresponding actions OEMs can take to address them, such as:
Barrier: OEMs still design for a narrow “average” user. Automotive brands’ target personas are male, young, and able-bodied, deprioritizing the needs of those who don’t match the dominant persona. Prevailing assumptions, a lack of awareness, and unintended bias about who drives, who buys, and what disability looks like limit how teams prioritize features and test experiences. As a result, population segments such as older adults and people with disabilities remain underserved.
Solution: Expand research and testing to reflect real-world diversity. Engaging a broader range of users throughout the entire product design and development process helps teams uncover unmet needs and build solutions that enable a wider range of customers to use their product while improving the experience of all customers.
Barrier: Siloed teams and fragmented ecosystems slow execution. Automotive organizations often operate in traditionally distinct teams, hampering collaboration between design, engineering and production. At the same time, with the rise of the software-defined vehicle, OEMs don’t always control the digital systems that shape the experience, and physical adaptations to cars are typically provided by third-party providers. This fragmentation makes consistent inclusion difficult to deliver.
Solution: Align teams around shared inclusive design requirements early on and apply those requirements to the full ecosystem. Make easy customizability of physical and digital experiences the default (e.g. installing standard fixing points in the car for common adaptations, letting users switch off functions, move HMI modules or choose preferred input methods). This allows users to adapt the car to their needs.
Barrier: Legacy designs and brand identity limit innovation. Established OEMs are constrained by their own design conventions, deeply ingrained brand identities and customer expectations. These legacy choices make it harder to rethink experiences from scratch or challenge outdated assumptions about users.
Solution: Use moments of transformation such as the shift to EVs, software-defined vehicles and autonomous vehicles to rethink design fundamentals. Treat these inflection points as an opportunity to break from legacy constraints, reimagine user needs, and build more inclusive experiences from a clean slate.
Read our full report, Design For Inclusion To Drive Growth And Innovation In Automotive, to explore these barriers to inclusion in automotive in more detail and learn how to embed inclusive design as a core part of business. To discuss what this means for your organization, schedule an inquiry or a guidance session.
