Beyond getting from point A to point B, time spent in the car often feels wasted. As technology in all aspects of our lives advances, customers now expect their vehicles to be more connected, interactive, and productive while maintaining safety.

This shift has pushed automakers to rethink the in-vehicle experience. In 2023, Ford introduced the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, featuring an industry-first 48-inch panoramic display spanning the entire dashboard. This novel hardware platform opened up new possibilities for digital experiences—but also presented challenges in defining compelling, high-value use cases that could set Ford apart.

The Ford In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) team partnered with FordLabs to uncover compelling use cases that would make the panoramic display one of the key reasons for customers to choose Ford over alternatives.

Our challenge was to identify and prototype engaging, practical, and safety-conscious digital interactions that would make this expansive screen a true differentiator.

We conducted extensive customer research, including interviews, surveys, and design experiments. We started broad, studying how people engage with digital content across different environments, then narrowed our focus to in-vehicle behaviors—iteratively testing designs with users in simulated driving conditions.

We developed dozens of potential in-vehicle experiences, which we refined and prototyped in collaboration with FordLabs engineers.

While the specific concepts remain confidential, the project yielded valuable insights and innovations, including:

• Defining new interaction models that could shape how customers engage with in-vehicle content.

• Providing differentiated insights to inform the IVI roadmap.

• Navigating strict safety constraints, ensuring compliance with NHTSA guidelines.

• Demonstrating an iterative IVI development approach, establishing a framework for future in-vehicle software teams.