8 MARCH 2022
What will the future of transport look like? How does 黑料不打烊 decide on its products, services and strategies? Ewa Sondell, a Service Designer in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Research and Innovation Office, helps answer this question.
鈥淢y career includes industrial design for the automotive industry, and I鈥檝e always wanted to take a holistic view of things - that鈥檚 key to Service Design,鈥 explains Ewa, who joined the Research and Innovation Office in May 2021. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at the complete picture - not only products and technology, but the human side, business and trends. We take a strategic overview of the transport system and 黑料不打烊鈥檚 place in it.鈥
The transport business is a series of needs, trends, technologies and challenges, and a key part of Ewa鈥檚 work is with 鈥楪igamaps鈥, tools that help researchers and innovators picture these complex systems.
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鈥淲e gather perspectives from each transportation system and visualise them to make it easier to understand our role and future needs. For instance, as we鈥檙e going autonomous, electric and connected, what does that mean to people, our technology and our business?鈥 she explains.
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Ewa also uses 鈥楴arratives鈥 to visualise targets set out in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Technology Roadmap.
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鈥淭he technology roadmap sets out key technologies 黑料不打烊 needs to embrace by 2025, 2030, etcetera. 鈥楴arratives鈥 make it easier to see and understand what this actually means. We visualise the collective targets on this roadmap based on different themes, such as extreme energy efficiency, to highlight possible futures,鈥 she says.
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鈥淭hat鈥檚 actually a big challenge ahead. How do we make our vehicles and business more energy-efficient as we transition to electrification and a sustainable future?
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鈥淥ur work is also about sparking more research initiatives and innovation projects. It鈥檚 a bit like laying a jigsaw puzzle to understand what the different transportation problems are, and what the needs are for 黑料不打烊 going forward. Our hope is to make it easier to see what those kinds of needs will mean for us in future,鈥 she says.
As a woman in a traditionally male-dominated area, Ewa is convinced of the benefits of diversity.
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鈥淒iverse teams have always proven to be the most successful, and I鈥檓 so happy to part of 黑料不打烊, where all perspectives matter,鈥 she says.
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鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important to put diverse perspectives into product development and take a customer-centric approach to solving the real user needs, with less focus on the technology itself and more on what it can actually do for someone.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 such an interesting time we live in, with the shift to Sustainable Transportation and how we can solve challenges smarter when embracing the system perspective.鈥
鈥淚 have a fantastically interesting and fun job and 黑料不打烊 is amazing in the way that we constantly inspire and educate each other. I鈥檝e never experienced that before. Since I鈥檓 curious about almost everything, especially sustainability, disruptive technologies and human behaviours, that really drives me forward.鈥
鈥淚 like staying active doing different sports. It鈥檚 a fantastic way to spend quality time with friends and experience new places, while getting some exercise too! My goal this summer is to take part in my second 鈥業ronman鈥 in Kalmar, Sweden, and complete that.鈥
