• Sketch, surface, iterate: teaching transport design for real-world practice at University of Staffordshire

    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

  • Design smarter cars faster: Real-Time Aerodynamics with Autodesk Alias & NavPack 

    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

  • From clay to AI: Autodesk’s Student Design Competition winners — Team Coventry — embody the best of automotive design education

    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

  • Physics AI for collaboration: Autodesk NavPack 2026

    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

  • Left-shifting in automotive design: How real-time insight is reshaping creative workflows

    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

  • AIF 2025: How NavPack Brings Engineering Intelligence into Alias & the design studio

    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

  • A small world with BIG opportunities: Inside the world of digital sculpting with some of the best at Lucid, Ford, Oakley, and Apple

    Digital Sculptor, Digital Designer, Digital Modeler, 3D Modeler You may (or may not) have heard these terms before, but they all refer to a very specific – and elite – role in the world of design. Industrial, automotive, and conceptual design industries all rely on the technical skills, deep expertise, and artistic insights of the…

    STORIES & INSPIRATION

  • Celebrating the people behind design: 2025 Car Design News People Awards

    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

  • Design smarter, faster: Covestro’s Imagio® material library now in Autodesk VRED

    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
  • Wireframe of a car on black background. Text reads: Autodesk Alias. Learn the essentials.

    Alias certification course

    The Autodesk official Alias Certification program is tailored for automotive designers and creative professionals who want to learn the skills essential to designing in Autodesk Alias. Over five modules, you’ll learn At the end of the course, you’ll receive official certification for Alias Essentials. Alias Certification gives you an advantage in your design development and…

    Essential SKILLS

  • A Kind of Magic – One Click to XR: How Hololight Stream Runtime and VRED are making Immersive Design effortless

    In the dynamic world of immersive technology, the demand is clear: XR experiences need to be more accessible, flexible, and easier to deploy. Enter Hololight Stream Runtime, in combination with Autodesk VRED – a groundbreaking duo that redefines powerful 3D visualization across various devices. Whether you’re validating complex design data or collaborating on product variants,…

    STORIES & INSPIRATION

  • What’s new in VRED 2026: Next-gen visualization for designers

    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

  • Hill Helicopters: The supercar of the skies

    When we first featured Hill Helicopter in 2020, it was a UK start-up focused on the vision of redefining helicopter design. Founded by Jason and Isabella Hill, the company’s HX50 was meant to disrupt the private helicopter market by moving beyond the over-engineered and under-designed reality of contemporary helicopters. In fact, the most well-known helicopter…

    STORIES & INSPIRATION

  • What’s new in Alias 2026: A new era of design, surfacing, and visualization

    The Alias 2026 release brings an exciting range of new tools and workflows that continue to redefine how designers and engineers create, collaborate, and visualize their ideas. With a focus on seamless visualization, smarter modeling tools, and workflow efficiency, Alias 2026 makes it easier than ever to bring your creative vision to life. VRED Renderer…

    PRODUCT NEWS

  • Announcing AIF26 — June 2-3, 2026

    We’re excited to announce that the Autodesk Automotive Innovation Forum (AIF) is back in 2026—and bigger than ever. Join us June 2–3, 2026, at the Darmstadtium Science & Congress Center in Darmstadt, Germany, for two immersive days of insight, innovation, networking and inspiration at the intersection of automotive design, engineering, and visualization. Whether you’re shaping…

    INDUSTRY NEWS