Never forget the users. Just outside Berlin, some 100 digital experts and designers are researching the mobility solutions of tomorrow. But above all, they are trying out a pioneering new form of collaboration. We paid them a visit. Text: Jochen Förster | Photos: Georg Roske I 68 n the beginning, there was just a name: USP, the acronym for Urban Shared Pod. That was the goal – to develop a mobile structure that people could share and that was unlike anything ever seen before. The rest was TBD – to be discussed. The first thing the members of “Team USP” did was to make a list. With questions such as, does our pod solve people’s problems? Or, is our pod fun? Does it make everyday life easier for users? Does it inspire them? Some one hundred designers and user experience experts, software developers and IT professionals are working on tomorrow’s mobility at the Volkswagen Group Future Center Europe, a glass and concrete building in a prime location in Potsdam, state capital of Brandenburg. One way or another, everyone in the automotive industry seems to be doing that at the moment, but these particular colleagues can also claim another USP – their unique selling point. Their focus is not so much on developing new sales products, but rather on trying out new perspectives. “The very first question we ask is, what do users want?” Mark Bergold, Lead UX Design, says. That might sound like stating the obvious, but it is a genuine first in the history of the tradition-rich Group. Until now, automobile production was usually dictated by technological innovations. The design and IT departments were given concrete tasks to complete. However, the digital age calls for a new work culture. The mission is to come up with swift and flexible solutions tailored to customer needs. To design digital offerings capable of learning and adapting. “Our aim is to
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