Text-to-image software and AI can shake up car design, says McLaren P1 designer

Car designers have been resorting to various new technologies and processes to improve the design and create unique prototypes. The increased penetration of technology in this sector has shaped the car design industry's future. McLaren P1 designer Frank Stephenson believes that text-to-image (T2I) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology's implementation in the process can bring a huge change in the car design industry.

On his Youtube channel, the renowned car designer has explained how the T2I allows feeding input via a written description of their desired design, eventually generating a fully rendered and detailed vehicle prototype in seconds using the artificial intelligence-powered system.

Stephenson believes that AI and T2I generators are powerful tools that car designers can use to make prototypes. These technologies allow them to generate and test different vehicle design ideas quickly. These technologies also give them ample time to focus on refining the design details. He also believes that with the ability to create and explore unique and innovative vehicle designs easily, there would be some truly groundbreaking cars hitting the market in the future.

Interestingly, Stephenson's comment is very much in line with the philosophy Audi has expressed in recent times. The German luxury car marquee recently announced that it would use in-house AI-powered technology to design the wheels of its future vehicles. This strategy would allow the car manufacturer under the Volkswagen group to experiment with different ideas.

While resorting to T2I and AI-based technologies would save precious time for the car designers, besides allowing them to experiment more with different ideas, there are some potential downsides of relying too heavily on these technologies, believes Stephenson. He said that there is a risk of homogenization of car designs if the designers rely too much on these technology tools and fail to bring their own creative vision to the table. Apart from that, there is also a risk of job loss as the need for car designers in the future may decrease with the emergence of these technologies.

Check out Upcoming Cars in India 2024, Best SUVs in India.