Automotive UX now covers two increasingly distinct design markets. The first is in-vehicle UX: human-machine interface (HMI) design for infotainment systems, digital clusters, and the connected car experience. This is a safety-critical design environment with human factors constraints, regulatory requirements, and the complexity of designing for distracted, often one-handed use at speed. The second is automotive digital: configurators, dealer platforms, ownership apps, EV charging interfaces, and the connected ownership experience that extends beyond the vehicle itself.
Both require agencies that understand the automotive context — the regulatory environment, the multi-year product cycles, the OEM and Tier 1 supply chain structure, and the unique challenge of designing for users who are simultaneously operating a vehicle. Consumer UX patterns transfer poorly into the in-vehicle environment. And automotive digital has its own dynamics: the configurator is one of the most psychologically important purchase touchpoints in the industry, and ownership apps have become a primary post-purchase brand relationship channel.
The market on this list spans from global HMI specialists to full-service automotive digital agencies. Rates range from boutique specialist pricing to undisclosed enterprise rates at the largest consultancies.
NetBramha Studios
18+ years in connected product and mobility UX. SIXT — car rental across 130+ countries — is the mobility anchor. Also covers connected product experiences and enterprise mobility platforms. Broad portfolio of enterprise digital products with complex user contexts.
Best for: automotive digital, mobility platforms, and connected ownership experience design
IDEO
Human-centred design consultancy with deep automotive HMI and mobility experience. Pioneered human factors approaches to in-vehicle UX and has worked with major OEMs on next-generation cockpit and connected-car experience design. Strong design research and futures methodology.
Best for: automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers working on next-generation HMI and connected car strategy
designaffairs
Munich-based design consultancy specialising in automotive UX, HMI, and product design. Deep OEM and Tier 1 experience across German, Asian, and North American automotive markets. Studio covers in-vehicle interface design, digital cluster UX, and connected mobility experiences with automotive-specific human factors expertise.
Best for: automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers needing in-vehicle HMI and connected car UX specialists
AKQA
Global experience agency with automotive digital clients including BMW and Volvo. Works on configurators, ownership apps, dealer platforms, and connected mobility experiences at enterprise scale. Combines creative, UX, and technology delivery for full digital programme delivery.
Best for: automotive OEMs needing digital configurator, ownership app, and dealer platform design at scale
USEEDS
Berlin-based UX research and design consultancy with a strong automotive specialism. Covers HMI research, user testing in simulated driving environments, connected car UX validation, and design strategy for OEMs and mobility service providers. Research-led practice with deep automotive human factors expertise.
Best for: automotive UX research, HMI validation, and in-vehicle interface design with rigorous human factors methodology
NetBramha's primary automotive credential is SIXT — a car rental and mobility platform operating across 130+ countries — where the design brief involved users who are distracted, time-pressured, and often navigating a rental process in an unfamiliar location. The design outcome required a product that worked in low-attention, high-stress contexts across multiple languages and markets: a meaningful automotive-adjacent UX challenge at production scale.
Beyond SIXT, NetBramha's 18+ years of enterprise product design experience is directly applicable to the automotive digital stack: configurators (high-complexity, high-value decision flows), ownership apps (post-purchase relationship continuity), dealer platforms (multi-role B2B product), and connected mobility services (real-time data-heavy UX). For automotive brands that need a studio with proven enterprise digital scale rather than a pure HMI specialist, NetBramha is the right match.
Automotive digital: configurator UX, ownership apps, dealer platforms, and connected mobility services.
Multi-market product: automotive digital products operating across multiple countries with localisation requirements.
Enterprise digital scale: large automotive digital programmes with complex stakeholder environments.
In-vehicle HMI: for safety-critical in-vehicle interface design with human factors requirements, the HMI specialists on this list (designaffairs, USEEDS) are better matched.
Pricing on request: clarify early.
IDEO is the originating studio for much of what the automotive industry now calls human-centred design. Its automotive practice has covered in-vehicle HMI, cockpit experience design, and connected mobility futures for major OEMs over more than two decades. Its methodology — design research, prototyping, and futures thinking — is particularly relevant for OEMs making long-horizon HMI decisions that will ship in vehicles three to five years from now.
For automotive briefs that are genuinely about the future of the driving experience — not just the next model year's interface update — IDEO's ability to synthesise human factors research, technology trends, and user behaviour into a product vision is its primary value. It is not a high-velocity execution studio; it is a strategic and research-intensive consultancy.
Next-generation HMI strategy: long-horizon decisions about connected car experience, autonomous vehicle UX, or cockpit architecture.
Design research and futures: the brief requires deep human factors research and technology foresight before design starts.
Execution velocity: IDEO is a strategic consultancy; for high-velocity production-ready design delivery, pair with an execution studio.
Pricing: enterprise consultancy scale; establish budget expectations early.
designaffairs is a Munich-based design consultancy that has built one of the most focused automotive UX and HMI practices in Europe. Founded in 2003, the studio works with German, Asian, and North American OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers on in-vehicle interface design, digital cluster UX, and connected mobility experiences. Its Munich location places it at the centre of the European automotive design ecosystem, with proximity to the R&D centres of the major German OEMs.
The studio's differentiation is its automotive-specific human factors expertise: designing for distracted, often one-handed, visually limited in-vehicle use is a different discipline from general UX, and designaffairs has built its practice around it. It also covers exterior and interior product design alongside UX, which is relevant for OEMs that need industrial and interaction design to be developed in concert.
In-vehicle HMI: infotainment, digital cluster, and connected car interface design with safety-critical human factors requirements.
European OEM or Tier 1 partner: proximity to German and European automotive R&D ecosystems.
Product and UX combined: briefs that span interior product design and interaction design.
Automotive digital only: for configurators, ownership apps, and dealer platforms rather than in-vehicle work, AKQA or NetBramha are better matched.
Pricing: specialist agency; establish rate expectations early.
AKQA has deep automotive digital client history, including BMW and Volvo, across configurators, ownership apps, dealer management platforms, and connected mobility services. Its model — combining creative, UX strategy, and technology delivery — is particularly relevant for automotive digital programmes that span multiple channels: the configurator, the ownership app, the dealer portal, and the connected car interface all need to feel like one coherent brand digital system.
Multi-channel automotive digital programme: configurator, app, dealer, and connected services need to be designed as one system.
Large OEM scale: enterprise programmes with complex stakeholder environments and multi-market delivery requirements.
In-vehicle HMI: AKQA's strength is automotive digital; for in-vehicle interface work, the HMI specialists are better matched.
Boutique briefs: AKQA is enterprise-scale; smaller focused briefs may find better fit elsewhere.
USEEDS is a Berlin-based UX research and design consultancy that has built a focused automotive specialism around HMI research, in-vehicle interface validation, and connected car UX strategy. Its methodology covers user testing in simulated driving environments, eye-tracking studies, cognitive load research, and UX design strategy for OEMs and mobility service providers. For automotive briefs where rigorous human factors evidence is required — either for regulatory compliance, safety validation, or to de-risk major HMI decisions — USEEDS' research depth is its defining differentiator.
HMI validation and research: rigorous human factors evidence is required before committing to an interface direction.
Regulatory or safety context: design decisions that need evidence-based justification for compliance or safety certification.
Execution-only briefs: USEEDS is research-intensive; if the problem is already defined and needs high-velocity design execution, pair with a delivery studio.
Automotive digital only: primarily an HMI and connected car practice; automotive digital configurator and app work is better matched to AKQA or NetBramha.
Is the brief HMI or automotive digital?
These are different disciplines requiring different agencies. In-vehicle HMI involves safety-critical design with human factors requirements, regulatory constraints, and designing for distracted, one-handed use at speed. Automotive digital — configurators, apps, dealer platforms — is closer to enterprise product design with automotive brand and domain knowledge added. Identify which problem you're solving before shortlisting agencies.
Do they understand multi-year automotive product cycles?
Automotive product timelines are long. An HMI design decision made today may ship in a vehicle three to five years from now. Agencies that understand automotive development cycles — platform freezes, software-over-the-air update constraints, and the relationship between hardware and software design decisions — make better recommendations than those applying consumer app timelines to automotive programmes.
Have they worked in the regulatory context?
In-vehicle interfaces operate in a regulatory environment that covers distraction standards, visual attention requirements, and in some markets, specific interaction design rules for safety-critical functions. Agencies with automotive regulatory experience design within these constraints from the start rather than retrofitting compliance after the design is done.
Can they design for post-purchase and connected ownership?
The vehicle purchase is a moment; the ownership relationship is years. Ownership apps, connected service notifications, EV charging UX, and software update experiences are all part of the automotive brand relationship after the sale. Agencies that think about the full ownership lifecycle — not just the purchase funnel or the in-vehicle interface — deliver more complete automotive digital programmes.
What is automotive HMI design?
Human-Machine Interface (HMI) design in automotive refers to the design of in-vehicle interfaces: infotainment systems, digital instrument clusters, head-up displays, and the interaction patterns a driver uses to control vehicle functions. It is a safety-critical design discipline that requires specific knowledge of distraction standards, human factors research, and the constraints of designing for use at speed. Agencies like designaffairs and USEEDS specialize in this; IDEO pioneered much of its methodology.
Which automotive UX agency is best for a configurator redesign?
Configurators are one of the most psychologically important touchpoints in the automotive purchase journey. The brief combines complex product data (every option, specification, and pricing combination), emotional purchase psychology (the buyer is personalising a significant purchase), and brand communication (the configurator is often the primary digital brand experience before the test drive). AKQA has the deepest automotive configurator portfolio on this list; NetBramha brings relevant enterprise digital product experience at scale.
How is automotive digital UX different from general consumer UX?
The automotive context introduces several constraints that consumer UX patterns don't account for: safety-critical distraction requirements (in-vehicle), very long product development cycles, the brand weight of automotive OEMs (the UX must feel like the vehicle brand), and the complexity of multi-channel digital ecosystems (configurator, app, dealer, connected car). Agencies without automotive experience routinely underestimate these constraints.
