Inside Alias 2027 Automotive design depends on a constant exchange between creative intent and technical precision. A surface may begin as a gesture, a proportion, or a design theme — but at every stage, it has to be evaluated, refined, communicated, and carried forward without losing the original idea. In our Design Deep Dive at…
SOLUTIONS
VRED 2027 workflows for automotive design Automotive design reviews increasingly need to move beyond static presentation moments. Teams need to evaluate products in context, interact with scenes more naturally, and share visual experiences across different environments — from desktop workstations to Powerwalls, CAVEs, XR, and streamed sessions. In our Visualization Deep Dive at AIF 2026,…
SOLUTIONS
Every keynote has a drumbeat, and this year’s Design Studio Keynote session in Darmstadt had only one: speed. Not speed as a slogan or speed for its own sake, but speed with confidence. Director of Product Management Marek Trawny framed it at the top: while the pressure to compress vehicle development is relentless, the goal…
DESIGN STUDIO
The automotive industry is in a period of continuous evolution—shaped by shifting consumer expectations, advancing technologies, and increasing pressure to deliver faster and more efficiently. At Automotive Innovation Forum (AIF) 2026, that evolution takes center stage. Hosted by industry analyst Roger Atkins, this year’s event brings together leaders from automotive design and the manufacturing industry…
DESIGN STUDIO
Multi-view reference images converted into a proportionally scaled 3D mesh inside Alias. From sketch to model, faster Before a surface is ever finalized, designers need to answer a fundamental question: Does this proportion work? Traditionally, that meant building early NURBS or SubD geometry — not to resolve Class-A surfacing, but simply to evaluate stance, overhangs, and overall volume. It’s necessary work,…
PRODUCT NEWS
Three student design teams reinterpret historic vehicles through iconic art movements, combining Alias surface modeling and VRED visualization to bring their concepts to life. For two years running, the Automotive Innovation Forum (AIF) Student Design Competition has invited emerging designers to explore new ideas using professional automotive design workflows. The 2026 brief, “The Original &…
STORIES & INSPIRATION
Transport design education is evolving under competing pressures: rapidly advancing digital tools, the rise of AI-assisted workflows, and industry demand for graduates who can think across disciplines while still mastering fundamentals. At the University of Staffordshire, the relaunched Transport Design program is addressing these pressures by combining craft-based making, digital fluency, and strong industry engagement…
STORIES & INSPIRATION
How Alias, VRED, and NavPack connect design, visualization, and engineering through real-time physics insight. We’ve got a new NavPack webinar for you on the Autodesk Design Studio YouTube channel. It explores how automotive teams can bring real-time engineering insight directly into creative workflows, without disrupting your established design and visualization processes. This session, with host…
Skills
When Coventry University’s Automotive and Transport Design students won Autodesk’s Power of Brand competition, the result stood out for reasons that went beyond a polished final image. Judged on narrative clarity, modeling quality, and brand interpretation, the Coventry team’s concept drawings and renderings demonstrated something deeper: a disciplined design process grounded in intent, craft, and…
STORIES & INSPIRATION
We’re excited to announce that NavPack 2026 is now available as a fully integrated Autodesk offering across all global channels. Our latest product solution for AI accelerated Design and Engineering, NavPack leverages Physics AI to enable cross functional teams, such as designers and engineers, to effectively collaborate and make better informed decisions faster. Its ability…
PRODUCT NEWS
After introducing NavPack Design and exploring how its predictive and generative AI models are trained, we hit a relevant question: what does this actually change in day-to-day automotive design? The answer comes down to a shift that’s gaining momentum across the industry: AI-driven physics-based insights becoming more accessible to designers, not just simulation experts. As…
AI
Presentation 1: AI-accelerated Design & Engineering — Matthias Bauer At AIF 2025, the Autodesk NavPack team presented a clear message: AI is rapidly reshaping the relationship between design and engineering. Across “AI-accelerated Design and Engineering” and “Deep Dive: How to leverage simulation data for AI-accelerated design and engineering,” Matthias Bauer and Jakob Lohse demonstrated not…
AI
While we love seeing the final shape of beautiful cars on the road, we don’t always recognize that every great car starts with ideas, talent, and people. That’s where Car Design News People Awards (CDN People Awards) come in, shining a spotlight on the individuals and teams responsible for the creativity, craftsmanship, and innovation behind…
INDUSTRY NEWS
We’ve got some exciting news for automotive and transportation designers: Covestro’s Imagio® digital sample library is now integrated directly into Autodesk VRED 2026.1. That means instant access to tens of thousands of photorealistic polycarbonate materials—where and when you need them. Designers don’t have to wait on physical samples or hunt through material catalogs, because they…
PRODUCT NEWS
The VRED 2026 release continues to refine the value of real-time rendering, interoperability, and collaboration. Packed with groundbreaking new features like the Vulkan render engine and Live Referencing between Alias and VRED, this release is designed to make your design and visualization pipeline more efficient, more collaborative, and more powerful than ever before. Vulkan: A…
PRODUCT NEWS