Will the Luce be the beginning of the end for the iconic Ferrari brand? One is left wondering whether that might be the fate of this iconic Italian vehicle maker after listening to Michael Robinson in the above interview.
As background, the British magazine, Magneto, listed Michael at number 31 among the top 50 all-time car designers in the world in 2021. In 2011, he was inducted into the Italian Car Designer Hall of Fame in the National Automobile Museum in Torino.
The Practicing Futurist #
As he describes, because of the long product lifecycles of vehicles, one has to live in the future to ensure that the production models are relevant many years out. He describes a design philosophy that starts with research into both the past and the future. It also means looking beyond the automobile industry to other forms of transportation and even the animal and plant kingdoms (e.g., bee swarms).
Not being pigeonholed as a “car-designer” has given him a broad view. Some of his projects beyond automobiles include the first eVTOL demonstrator, high-speed trains, yachts, buildings, and even fashion.
As alluded to, designing and building these dynamic (e.g., moving from 0 to 60 in a few seconds) projects is much more complex than, say, a smartphone.
Growth Mindset & the AI Transition #
Throughout his career, Robinson has embraced a growth mind-set. His ability to create a prompt and translate it into a concept sketch has set him up for today’s AI-driven world. He lauds the young designers he works with and their exceptional prompting skills. He indicates that AI is making them 10x designers.
Finally, he hints at some of the new projects his team is designing. As an independent designer, he continues to innovate and think about what will be 10, 20, and 30 years out.
Interview Highlights: #
- 00:10 – Robinson’s thoughts on the Ferrari Luce, which were also provided in the Italian car magazine Quattroruote.
- 08:10 – How did this happen?
- 11:11 – How does Mike Robinson keep looking to the future, instead of resting on the laurels of the past?
- 14:42 – Mike is a multi-modal vehicle designer, which is unique. For example, his design of the world’s first electric vertical take-off prototype vehicle. How does this inform his vision?
- 16:02 – The importance of research and how antiquity and modernity can create great energy.
- 19:14 – The art of prompting and controlling AI, instead of it controlling you.
Previous Viodi Articles and Interviews #
To provide more context, the following list provides some of Viodi’s previous articles and interviews with Robinson. These articles from the past point to Robinson’s vision of the future and how it has become today’s reality.
- The Autonomous Vehicle and What It Means – June 2014
- Racing to the Autonomous Future – February 2015
- Keeping Humans in the Loop in Autonomous Vehicles – August 2016
- Super Intelligence – Good or Bad? – March 2017
- The Human-Machine Vehicle Interface – Don’t Forget the Human – April 2017
- The GT-Limousine Concept Car – Almost On-Demand – January 2024
Leave a Reply