INTERVIEW       Felice Fortino, Automotive HMI/UX Design Leader, airquest-studios.com      

Automotive HMI/UX specialist AIRQUEST has helped many OEMs and suppliers transform unused software features into revenue-generating assets. For example, they completely revamped a safety feature for a major German car manufacturer, allowing customers to subscribe to it in addition to purchasing the vehicle. The feature was rolled out to over 7.2 million vehicles, generating approximately $250 million in annual after-sales revenue. Development costs were reduced by $86,000. AIRQUEST's proposition is simple and clear: to create mobility experiences that drive measurable business growth. We spoke with AIRQUEST's Felice Fortino about automotive HMI/UX.

written by Sangmin Han
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Before we dive into various insights from AIRQUEST and yourself, let’s start with a bang! If you were to tell Korean readers, "Collaborate with Felice Fortino!", what would be the best story to share? Would it be about your recent design award win or your collaborations with top brands? 
Fortino        When was the last time you went to a motor show? Did you watch how most of the visitors interact with the cars? If you did, I’m sure you made one fundamental discovery: All eyes are on the digitally connected cockpit. 
Typically when visitors approach a car at a motor show, they start by admiring the exterior design while walking around the car once or maybe twice. Then they open one of the front doors and sit in the car where their eyes jump directly to the screens and control buttons. From there on the rest of the car becomes secondary and it is all about the digital cockpit and its functionalities.
People are drawn to experiences that exceed their expectations through quality, personalisation and usage of the most current trends and technologies. The digital cockpit is becoming the most important differentiator for OEMs and suppliers.
That’s why user experience makes or breaks your ability to win customers.
Of course we’re immensely proud of our collaborations and awards, but what really makes us your perfect match is that we’re not regular UX generalists. We breathe mobility and we always move at the forefront of what is happening in the industry.


It might be due to my limited experience, but I find it very impressive that you emphasize not only usability design for HMI but also profitability, design strategy, emotion, and branding in a holistic approach. Am I correct, or am I exaggerating? Could you introduce yourself and AIRQUEST, including your challenges and mission?        
Fortino        That’s absolutely correct. Everything we do at AIRQUEST lives at the intersection between business and design. Our unique approach is to combine the two. Usually you engage with design studios to only take care of the design and the business part is taken care elsewhere. We don’t like that approach. For us, business and design are inseparable. If you take the business out of the design, you have art. There’s nothing wrong with art, but it’s not what we do. We specialise in helping automakers, suppliers, and startups create new mobility experiences that actually drive measurable business growth.


Your approach naturally seems to be shaped by your background - your heritage (Italian, perhaps?), your studies at Georgia Institute of Technology, and your experience with companies like Tech Data, Diconium, BMW, and Porsche. Could you walk us through the milestones of your journey and meaningful experiences that shaped your expertise? 
Fortino        My heritage definitely plays a huge role in my mission to bring the automotive and mobility industry into the future. I come from an Italian family and was born and raised in Germany, specifically in Germany’s automotive capital Stuttgart. It wasn’t always obvious to me, but this heritage hugely impacted my passion for cars. Both Italians and Germans have their own very strong automotive culture. Embodying and combining both of these cultures is certainly a unique strength of mine that I always strive to bring into every project.
As mentioned, this wasn’t always obvious for me. Initially, after my studies in communication design, I started in the field of UX/UI within the big tech industry working on digital products from corporations like Adobe and IBM. It was great to learn and grow my skills, but I always felt the urge to be more passionate about the topics I work on. My first professional contact with automotive topics only came when I took a job with a different agency which is a subsidiary of Volkswagen. That was the first time I not only loved to put my skills to use, but I also was passionate about the topics I worked on: cars and mobility!

I enjoyed my time at that agency while working on smaller projects on the side, but at some point this wasn’t enough for me. I knew that doing only small projects on the side wouldn’t lead to much impact. That’s when I decided that I needed to put all my energy and time into building my own studio. AIRQUEST was born from that decision and my hands-on experience and dedicated passion for creating extraordinary user experiences that connect automotive brands and customers in inspiring and lasting ways.

From there we went on to impact many of the major OEMs and suppliers and help them find answers to some of the most pressing questions of the modern automotive industry:
How can we unlock new monetisation streams beyond the initial car sales?
How can we deliver innovative, seamless mobility experiences that consistently delight users?
How can we design experiences that support the transition to connected, electric and autonomous vehicles?
How can we achieve all that while still being compliant with safety standards and new regulatory requirements?

Our approach is clear: we bring together, strategy, design, and technology to create truly human-centred mobility experiences.


Regarding branding, you emphasize consistency. What does this mean to you? How does it apply to UX/HMI, your field of expertise?
Fortino        Consistency is by far the hardest challenge for large enterprises like OEMs and suppliers. For me consistency means that whenever and however a customers interacts with a company, the impression they have of that company always remains the same. When every interaction reinforces the previous impression of a company, that’s real consistency.

Why does it even matter? The reason I think consistency is so important comes down to one simple core value that every human seeks in a relationship: trust.

Think about it, if you regularly meet a person and every time you meet them they are completely different, would you be able to trust that person? Probably not, because you would never know what to expect from them.
On the contrary, if that person continuously acts in a way that is integral to their values, you will build trust in them, because they have shown you that you can rely on their character.
The same is true for companies and it goes far beyond branding. If I book an appointment for a test drive for a new car on your beautifully designed app and then go to your dealership where the desk space is cluttered and the car dealer is unfriendly, I won’t build trust with your company. This example shows the complexity and magnitude of that challenge, because it requires every touchpoint to follow the same strategy, from the car itself to the app and the dealership. For your company these touch points are completely separate instances, but for your customers it’s one and the same company.

In our work with automaker and suppliers, we enable them to take the see their company the way the customers see it. We conduct intensive research that gains insights into the customer perspective and then we look at the processes and dependencies within the company. Based on that we then build strategies to align customer expectations with company processes. The end result can range from strategies to prototypes and finished digital products, all with the objective of efficiency and revenue growth.








What will future luxury and future volume cars look like in terms of design and strategy? While some luxury brands are growing, many global brands - including German ones - are struggling worldwide and especially in China. Meanwhile, Chinese brands are rapidly rising in major global markets, aiming for at least the level of Hyundai and Kia. What is happening right now? What should brands in Germany and Korea pay attention to? And if we discuss this from the perspective of HMI/UX, what would you say?
Fortino        The market conditions right now are shifting in different directions depending on the segment. This dynamic makes it hard to get a clear picture of the market. The German auto industry is watching their sales numbers drop in a free fall in many regions, especially in China. Meanwhile, other brands with European heritage are surging to new heights of their success:

Ferrari’s sales increased by 12.9% globally.
Skoda achieved a 26.3% increase in sales globally.
Rolls Royce grew by approximately 14.3% in global sales.
Land Rover reported a significant 93% record growth in sales.

This highlights one key insight: Not the entire market is shifting. Ultra luxury buyers are still happy to spend large budgets on prestige products. Likewise, low priced products can still get away with moderate software maturity if it’s balanced with good design and a strong brand.

But with lasting economic uncertainties around the world, two large groups of customers are rethinking their purchase decisions:
“Aspiring Buyer”, typically wealthy people but not super rich, previously bought expensive brand products for status. Now, they move to the “Aspirer Zone” buying products where they get more tangible value for their money.
“Volume Buyers”, typically people focused on conscious spending, previously bought mid-range products for superior perceived quality. Now, they move to the “Volume Zone” buying products that are much cheaper and similar or better in quality.

Considering these insights, German and Korean automakers basically have three options to stay in the game. They could lower the purchase price which is what VW is doing with their ID.Every1 concept. Alternatively they could increase their software maturity which is is what Mercedes is doing with MB.OS in their new CLA. Or a third option is to move to the “Ultra Luxury Zone” of the market which is what Jaguar is doing with their new ultra luxury vehicles.

All three can be valid strategies and can even be combined, but they all require completely different approaches. Once again, knowing your customers remains the key to competitive advantage. When OEMs understand the motivation behind buying decisions, they can quickly adapt to the shifting customer needs.


Your introduction includes "Motorsport and chocolate cake enthusiast." How does motorsport influence AIRQUEST, your work, and UX/HMI? 
Fortino        I don’t think my enthusiasm for motorsport influences my work directly, or at least I’m not aware of it. I think motorsport for me is just another way to express my passion for the automotive and mobility space. In general I like everything that moves and if it moves really fast, all the better!


Dashboards are becoming increasingly integrated with various in-vehicle and external services and functions. From the perspectives of EVs, ADAS, AD, SDV, and UX/HMI integration, as well as profitability, what trends do you see? And what mistakes are being made? 
Fortino        Specifically electric and autonomous vehicles open up an entirely new world of connected services and functions. From smart route planning to in-car entertainment there is a lot of potential value for the user.

The mistake I often observe is that new features are being developed just for the sake of the technology and not necessarily because of the value it brings to the customer. Too many resources are being allocated to features that serve as marketing stunt or partnership duty.
The cure for avoiding failed features is to make the user journey the centre of your innovation. Only when you understand the user behaviour and the motivation behind their decisions you can develop new functions based on the real user benefit instead of the technological capabilities. Just because it’s technically possible doesn't mean that it should be a feature. And even if a technology has huge potential to benefit the user, it’s still about packaging it in a way that the user understands and trusts it.

Many of the great technological innovations we enjoy today were not brought to us by companies that invented them. They came from companies that made these technologies accessible to a large group of people.


Related to the previous question, some companies add more screens, while others remove them. Some use horizontal layouts, others vertical. Some increase buttons, others eliminate them. Some prefer disappearing controls, while others go for transparency. The designs range from library desks to luxury yachts. What do you see happening here, and what insights would you like to share? Are there any integrations or technologies you are particularly observing or find controversial? 
Fortino        Up until recently, car interiors evolved only in one way: They went from dark and cluttered cockpits to sleek and buttonless comfort spaces. There is no arguing that this trend started with Tesla. They were the first to introduce a radically different interior with almost no physical buttons and instead a large tablet in the middle. Given their success it’s obvious that other OEMs followed that approach and started to declutter their interiors as well. While customers generally welcomed this transformation, many OEMs took it too far. When basic car controls are not usable anymore even the sleekest and most comforting interior will turn customers away.

But automakers persisted. Even with many customers complaining, OEMs held on to this trend because it saved them a lot of money. It’s much cheaper to hide everything behind one large screen instead of producing many different buttons and knobs. On top of that, everything that is behind a screen can be easily adjusted with a software update, but a physical button is fixed. There is no adjusting placement, appearance or function for that button.

Luckily, user experience wins this debate. We are now seeing many OEMs adapting to the customer complaints. Hyundai was one of the first OEMs to reintroduce physical buttons to their interiors which earned them a lot of applause from customers. And also Volkswagen, with the release of their latest concept car, stated that their buttonless strategy was a mistake and that their future cars will more have physical controls again. I think it’s slowly becoming clear to automakers that saving costs by eliminating all physical controls doesn't pay well in the long-run.

In short, there is a general and simplified rule for mapping the right control to each interaction: the control method must always match the complexity of the interaction. Physical controls are better suited for quick and frequent interactions like climate control while touchscreens allow for much more complex interactions like route planning and vehicle settings.


Your introduction mentions "turning unused software features into revenue-generating elements." Could you elaborate on this concept with some concrete examples?
Fortino        One of the core advantages of software-enabled vehicles is the possibility to continuously improve a car. Instead of getting older, the car becomes better over time through software updates.
For customers this is great, because now they can buy a car that is still cutting-edge five years later. For OEMs this is great, because now they have a new opportunity for continuously delivering value to their customers even long after the initial purchase. And of course, delivering value is how companies make money.

With software-enabled vehicles, OEMs have the unique opportunity to be constantly present in the lives of their customers, learn from their behaviours, and adapt their in-car software accordingly. This new dynamic introduces monetisation streams that were not possible before. Just like every other software product or service we use, we pay a subscription for it as long as it brings us value. The software provider can then use these earnings to make the software even better and more valuable to us.

But herein lies the catch. In order for OEMs to monetise their software features, they have to prove its value first. And it doesn’t stop there. OEMs need to maintain and keep a software feature valuable over time for customers to stay engaged with it. Otherwise they remain unused features and all the development effort went to waste.

At AIRQUEST, we’ve helped numerous OEMs and suppliers turn unused software features into revenue generating assets. For instance, we’ve completely revamped a safety feature for a leading German car maker that customers can subscribe to on top of their vehicle purchase. With our research we helped them to understand the market situation and their customer behaviour. Based on these insights we conceptualised a go-to-market strategy and went on to build and test functional prototypes which helped us to refine the solution until it was ready to be released.

The result? The feature was rolled out to more than 7.2 million vehicles generating an estimated $250 million annual revenue in after-sales. On top of that, we were able to reduce the development cost of that feature by $86k thanks to our fast and streamlined design approach. Our offer is as clear as simple: we create mobility experiences that drive measurable business growth.








Voice assistants are always a hot topic, and they will likely become even more critical in the future. Personally, I often imagine something like JOI from Blade Runner 2049 when using various AI apps. While it's not voice-based, I sometimes start my workday with a casual chat with ChatGPT. What has your experience with in-car voice assistants been like so far? What do you envision for the future? Could this be a key differentiator for vehicles? There was even research in Germany on the visual representation of voice assistants - what is your vision? 
Fortino        Voice assistants, especially enhanced by AI, is a topic we are working on very intensively right now with various OEMs and suppliers. Naturally with the rapid development and rising popularity of generative AI there is a lot of pressure on OEMs to find ways to integrate this technology in their vehicles. I think we have now finally moved forward from the first wave of hype where OEMs did their marketing duty by announcing ChatGPT integration at motor shows. Now that the hype has cooled off we can finally focus on the specific value that generative AI can bring to drivers and passengers. And one important part of that are voice assistants.

Up until recently, in-car voice assistants were not very popular among drivers for one simple reason: they didn’t work. We talked to many customers who all had their own story about trying their in-car voice assistant once and quickly becoming frustrated with it. The problem is that one unsatisfying experience often is enough to completely loose trust in a technology. For this technology to become widely adapted, we need to gain back the trust of customers.

With AI we have the technical prerequisites to solve most if not all of the problems customers complain about when it comes to voice assistants:

The voice assistant doesn’t understand you? AI can adapt to regional and individual accents. Talking to the voice assistant feels unnatural? AI can imitate human speech patterns. The capabilities of the voice assistant are limited? With AI the voice assistant can control every connected car function.

I believe there's huge potential in voice technology to transform the way we interact with our cars. But it needs to be implemented with a laser focus on user needs and safety. Not every function should be hidden behind a voice command. Before the development of any feature, especially voice assistant features, we need to answer one critical question: are we solving real problems or creating new ones?


If we talk about the future of cars and the five senses, how would you engage customers in discussions about auditory, tactile, olfactory, and even gustatory experiences in vehicles? 
Fortino        Including all human senses in the in-car experience is definitely a future that the industry is heading for. From our experience working on concept show cars we know that this is a topic that many automakers are trying to explore.

OEMs are already optimising sight and sound, but the future lies in orchestrating all five senses to create a signature brand experience. For sound, it’s not just about premium audio anymore. We are seeing AI-driven adaptive soundscapes where the car subtly shifts its sound profile based on mood, traffic conditions, or even the driver’s heart rate. EVs, in particular, have an opportunity to craft a new auditory identity beyond traditional engine roars.

Also touch is becoming more integrated with haptic feedback in seats, steering wheels, and even touch surfaces that provide confirmation without visual distraction. First implementations show promising use cases like pressure-sensitive controls that feel more natural than buttons or materials that respond dynamically to temperature and motion.

Smell in cars is massively underexplored, especially in Western regions, but it has real potential. We know scent is linked to memory and emotion, why not use it to reinforce brand identity? Luxury brands could create signature in-car fragrances, while AI-driven filtration systems could optimise air quality in real-time, personalising scent based on passenger preference or even geography.

With taste I think it’s much tricker. But as we move toward autonomous vehicles, the in-car experience will include more food and beverage integration. We could see built-in beverage stations, smart hydration systems, or even partnerships with high-end brands to create a curated in-car dining experience.

For automakers, the challenge is to seamlessly integrate these sensory elements in a way that feels natural, not gimmicky. The brands that get this right won’t just sell cars, they’ll sell experiences that people want to return to every day.








Everyone talks about the speed of China. Naturally, we have to consider regional and corporate culture, regulations, traditions, and the infrastructure for efficiency. Do you think these factors significantly impact UX/HMI as well? 
Fortino        Absolutely, I think the regional culture, regulations, and traditions have more impact on the UX/HMI side of the car than on the exterior design for example. The reason for that is simple: the modern automobile is a digitally connected device that is defined by it’s software capabilities. Unless it’s a pure sports car, people don’t judge a car merely by its looks, price, or performance. They judge a car based on how well it fits into their digital lives. And as every OEM should be aware of by now, the digital lives of people look very different across the world.

For example, the way Chinese customers use connected digital services is fundamentally different from the Western world. Chinese users view their smartphone as personal assistant, centrally connected to every part of their lives. Instead of having separate apps for each service or company, super apps like “WeChat” connect every app, service, and product into one central system. In China, if your company is not available through WeChat, your company basically doesn’t exist. The foundation of these super apps is built on chat functionality, primarily driven by voice interactions.

This approach might seem foreign or even scary to users in the Western world. In regions like Europe and the US the digital ecosystem is much more scattered. Every service and company has its own app and they all work separately from each other. While this gives more control to the user, it also drastically increases the seams and transitions in the user experience. Users often need to navigate between multiple apps to complete a single task.

For OEMs this means that their approach in building digitally connected cars needs to reflect regional differences. What works for customers in the West might seem completely foreign to Chinese customers.

OEMs that ignore this regional user experience gap will fall right through it.


I am curious about the scale of AIRQUEST. Given the need to understand major social changes while excelling in design, strategy, profitability, and branding, what kind of capabilities, size does your company have?
Fortino        We have adapted our operating model in a way that perfectly fits in the structure of most companies in the automotive and mobility industry. Many other agencies set up rigid departments with a lot of overhead which ultimately the client needs to pay for.
We view that operating model as fundamentally flawed which is why we do it differently. In general, AIRQUEST operates as a highly flexible network of industry experts in the various fields of design like UX/UI, HMI, 3D, Research, Prototyping, Quality Assurance and more. When we assess a project, we assign the exact right number of people with the precise field of expertise to the client. We integrate ourselves into the team or department and get the job done from within while always keeping our valuable external perspective.

This has several advantages. First, the client doesn’t need to worry about paying our overhead, because there is none. Second, it allows us to scale up the scope of a project within a day. In our experience, this agility serves us and our clients well in this very dynamic industry.


Finally, what has been the most fulfilling moment in your work? And do you have any final words for our Korean readers?  
Fortino        Working in the automotive industry regularly brings me to new experiences that I’m grateful for. Travelling to beautiful countries and cities, walking into stunning client facilities and seeing all of their amazing cars, exploring cutting-edge technology, or just seeing someone driving a car I worked on. All of these moments make my work so fulfilling to me.

I think Korea has a unique position in the automotive market. Korea’s emphasis on emotional design, tech-driven personalisation, and the future of smart mobility combined with the innovative local OEM and supplier network makes it a leader in the future mobility.
I have not yet had the pleasure to visit Korea, but with the automotive industry being so globally connected, I’m sure my visit is not far away. I’m already looking forward to it.