Concept Lab · Automated driving

A MINI that drives itself sometimes, and the handover that makes it work

MINI Vision Semi-Auto was a BMW-sponsored vision for conditional (SAE Level 3) automation: an interior with two modes, a shared hemispheric interface, and a choreographed handover between driver and car. In 2026 I rebuilt the handover as an interactive prototype and checked the concept against the MINI that BMW actually shipped.

Context
BMW-sponsored vision project, 2014–15
My role
Project lead: set direction for three designers; owned the interior design and interaction concept
Outcome
Presented to BMW's head of design; taken to BMW in Germany as input for future BMW interiors
Prototypes
Full-scale buck and projected drive simulation (2015) · interactive handover prototype (2026)
Final prototype: a participant seated in a full-scale cardboard and wood interior buck with a retractable wheel and central sphere, beside a projected simulation of the green dashboard
Final prototype and validation: the full-scale buck and the projected drive simulation.
2026 verdict

I bet on a round centre as MINI's main interface, and on highway-only autonomy. MINI now ships a round OLED that replaces the cluster, and Level 3 arrived on highways only.1,4 Where it got harder than I forecast: the handover itself. BMW is stepping its 7 Series back from Level 3 to Level 2.6

The brief

Keep MINI playful when the car can drive

How can a brand evolve its identity in the connected-car era?

MINI is a brand about the fun of driving. Semi-autonomy asks the opposite: sometimes, let the car drive. I wrote the brief to find out what a MINI is for when the driver isn't driving, and how the car hands control back without killing the fun.

Our 2015 forecast for 2020
01

Autonomy stays on the highway

Self-driving would be limited to highways and private parking, and the driver would stay responsible for the journey.

02

Evolution, not reinvention

Traditional seating holds. The interior changes in degrees, so both modes must live in one cabin.

03

Transitions are the product

The questions that mattered were where autonomy works, and how the car moves between manual and automated driving.

Research

Who is the MINI buyer in 2020?

We studied the brand's history, competitors and trends, then interviewed people in the field and synthesised what we heard into three archetypes. Each archetype came with a package of features and the system demands behind it.

Accomplished Builder

Ben

Wants to escape the commute without giving up control or the feeling of driving well.

EscapeEasyTechnologyInfluence
Affluent Progressive

Emma

Sophisticated and connected. Expects the car to fit a busy life and to know her schedule.

SophisticatedConnectedEasyEfficient
Creative Elite

Angie

Emotional and adventurous. Values wellbeing, and sees the car as part of a community.

EmotionalAdventureWellnessCommunity

Brand and history

What makes a MINI a MINI, from the classic Mini to the connected era.

Market and trends

Competitor analysis and a 2020-and-beyond context for policy, safety and technology.

Field interviews

A methodology and framing questions built for owners and shared-car users of all ages.

Synthesis

Affinity mapping into opportunities, archetypes and feature packages.

Four design moves

What the interior does, and why

Move 01 · Two modes, one cabin

Master Drive and Auto Drive

In Master Drive the cabin is built around the driver: a tilt-telescopic wheel, three rear-view screens and an augmented-reality windshield. In Auto Drive the wheel retracts, opening space so the driver and passenger can both reach the centre.

Why: a MINI should still be a driver's car. Autonomy is something you switch into, not the default.
Interior concept board: sketches, driving-mode tests with a retracting wheel, and a green-lit dash labelled AR windshield, MINI-Sphere, HVAC and audio, three rear-view screens and auto tilt-telescopic steering
Sketch ideation, driving-mode tests and the final dash.
Move 02 · The MINI-Sphere

A round centre both people can use

MINI's round centre display became a hemispheric multi-touch interface with its own gestures. It adapts to the mode: driver-focused when driving, shared between both front seats in Auto Drive.

Why: the round centre is MINI's signature. Making it the shared space keeps the brand visible when the driving stops.
Board showing the drive-to-auto timeline, MINI-Sphere interface screens and gestures, and the user interface architecture
The handover timeline, sphere interface and gestures, and the UI architecture.
Move 03 · The handover

Choreograph every change of control

The car guides the driver to an autonomous route, counts down before the wheel retracts and hands come off, then alerts before the route ends so the driver can take control back. Each step has a cue in the driver's line of sight.

Why: at Level 3, the risky moments are the transitions, not the cruising. The 2026 prototype below is built around this sequence.
Board defining conditional autonomy, the future scenario and the design questions, with photos of the scenario wall and a buck session
Defining conditional autonomy and the questions the experience had to answer.
Move 04 · Beyond the car

A connected ecosystem

A MINI app for owners and non-owners, and a MINI-Wear band that can summon the car and alert by vibration. The car syncs with the owner's schedule and updates driving settings on arrival.

Why: the research pointed to shared mobility and belonging. The MINI community should include people who don't own one.
Vision Semi-Auto concept board: the MINI connected sphere ecosystem with Auto Drive and Master Drive modes, the MINI connected app and the MINI-Wear wearable
The ecosystem: dual-mode interior, app and wearable.
How we tested it

Full-scale buck, real scenarios

We played through scenarios with people of different ages, owners and shared-car users, in one-to-one mockups and a full-scale buck in front of a projected drive. The dash was refined through sketches, discussion and repeated sessions.

What changed: [Add one finding from the buck sessions and the change it led to.]
Phase 1 strategy board: research methodology, archetype and package recommendation, and three final personas
Phase 1: research methodology, archetypes and personas.
From 2015 to 2026

The handover, rebuilt as something you can step through

The 2015 boards show the sequence as stills. Here it runs: what the driver sees ahead, what the MINI-Sphere shows, and where the wheel is at each stage. Switch to the 2026 version to see what I'd change with today's knowledge.

MINI Vision Semi-Auto · handover simulator
AR windshield
72km/h
Wheel out
MINI-Sphere

Driver sees
MINI-Sphere
Use the arrows, tap a stage, or press Play.Stages follow the 2015 timeline board.
Readiness, not just a timer

The 2026 version checks eyes and hands with a driver-monitoring camera before handing control back.

2015: a countdown alone
A fallback if the driver doesn't respond

The car slows to a controlled stop, as production Level 3 systems do.4

2015: not designed
Speed never leaves the driver's view

Driving info stays in the windshield in every mode, while the sphere changes role.

2015: same, and still right
2015 board: drive mode to auto mode timeline with windshield views, sphere interface screens and UI architecture
The 2015 timeline board the simulator is built from.
Reality check · 2015 vs. 2026

Vision Semi-Auto against the MINI and BMW of today

The benchmark is the all-new MINI Cooper, with its round OLED centre display, and BMW's Level 3 Personal Pilot. I'm not claiming a direct line from this project to either; the point is to test the 2015 thinking against what shipped.

Idea
2015 concept
MINI and BMW today
Verdict
The round centre as the main interface
2015 conceptThe MINI-Sphere: a hemispheric multi-touch centre with its own gestures.
TodayMINI's 240 mm round OLED combines the instrument cluster and the on-board monitor, the first fully usable round touch display.1
Held up
Driving info in the driver's view
2015 conceptSpeed, energy and alerts in the windshield, in every mode.
TodayThere's no standard cluster, so speed sits on the centre screen and the driver looks away to check it; an optional pop-up HUD helps.2,3
Concept better
Personality in the interface
2015 conceptA playful sphere, community features and a wearable.
TodayEight experience modes, including Go-Kart and a Heritage view that recreates the classic gauge.3
Held up
Autonomy limited to highways
2015 conceptSelf-driving on highways and in private parking only.
TodayBMW's Level 3 works only on highways with separated carriageways, at up to 60 km/h.4
Held up
Timing
2015 conceptMost makers would offer some semi-autonomy by 2020.
TodayLevel 3 reached customers in Germany in 2022 (Mercedes) and 2024 (BMW).4,5
Late
The handover as the hard problem
2015 conceptA full sequence of cues for handing control over and back.
TodayBMW is dropping Level 3 from the 7 Series and stepping back to Level 2, after Mercedes did the same; the system cost too much and found too few buyers.6
Harder than forecast
The retracting wheel
2015 conceptThe wheel stows in Auto Drive to open the cabin.
TodayNot offered on a production MINI or BMW. Low-speed, highway-only Level 3 gives little time where a stowed wheel pays off.
Still open

Sources are numbered at the foot of the page.

My call

Keep the sphere and the windshield split. Redesign the handover for the autonomy we actually got.

The round shared centre and the driver's own line of sight were the right pair, and MINI's production car shows what happens without the second half. The handover needs to be built for short, frequent, low-speed Level 2+ and Level 3 use.

  1. Readiness over countdownsUse driver monitoring to confirm eyes and hands before control returns, with a controlled-stop fallback.
  2. Design for hands-free Level 2 firstEyes on the road, hands off: the realistic near term. The sphere stays a passenger and media space.
  3. Multi-sensory takeover cuesHaptics in the seat and wheel, not only visuals, so the alert works when the driver is looking at the sphere.
  4. Measure time to takeoverRun takeover trials in a buck and track response time and errors, the same way I validated the Volvo fan knob.
Where this led

Two habits that carried into my professional work

Buck testing → Volvo Trucks

Test the interaction in a buck, with people

At Volvo I found the fan knob's detents didn't match the fan steps on screen. I validated a fix in a buck simulator with 15 participants, and the revised detents were carried forward.

Brand identity → CARIAD / VW Group

One platform, many brand characters

At CARIAD I validated infotainment, digital clusters and connected experiences across VW Group's multi-brand HMI platforms, where each brand had to stay itself.

Sources for the 2026 reality check
  1. Driving.ca via Yahoo: MINI reveals new design details, including a round touchscreen
  2. Parkers: MINI Cooper interior, tech and comfort
  3. Edmunds: MINI's new interior is full of fun details and nods to the past
  4. EVMagz: BMW Personal Pilot L3 on the 7 Series
  5. Electronic Design: BMW to offer Level 3 hands-off, eyes-off technology
  6. Autohaus: BMW steps back a level on highly automated driving (Feb 2026)
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Level Four Autonomous Vehicle experience

Autonomous vehicles | In-vehicle experience | UX strategy

User Experience with Semi- autonomous BRAND BMW MINI

BACKGROUND

I created this project brief while working on the sponsored BMW vision project. In addition, this project was co-designed with three other designers. The project was worked on in a collaborative environment to strategize, design, and prototype the vision.

PROJECT

How can a brand evolve its identity in the connected-car era?

Role: Project lead, responsible for project experience and prototyping. I led the concept with a team of four designers, with research focused on technical and user experience aspects. I led the project direction and buck design, including center infotainment interaction and user experience.

Timeline: 2014-2015

End to End UXD PROCESS BELOW