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Developed in collaboration with BMW Group Designworks

ALLO: Reimagining In-Car Gaming for BMW Autonomous Vehicles

ALLO explores how autonomous vehicles can support immersive gaming without allowing screens to dominate the journey. The concept coordinates seating, displays, interaction modes, and external services based on passengers’ changing levels of engagement.

BMW in-car infotainment screens showing the Epic Games storefront with Fortnite featured, viewed from the rear seat with a game controller resting nearby
My ContributionExperience Strategy · In-Vehicle UX · Interface Design
Duration2021.05 – 2021.11
Recognition🔗 Behance Product Design
The Team2 UX Designers + 2 Mobility DesignersDirected by Junghoon Lee, BMW Group Designworks
Background

When driving is no longer the primary task, the interior becomes an experience platform.

Autonomous mobility transforms passengers’ attention from driving to activities such as entertainment, work, conversation, and rest. However, bringing gaming into the vehicle introduces a new challenge: the experience must support immersion without isolating passengers or allowing screens to dominate the shared space.

Mobility Shift
Driver-Centered Mobility
  • Continuous road attention
  • Individual vehicle control
  • Fixed cockpit configuration
  • Driving as the primary task
→
Passenger-Centered Mobility
  • Flexible attention
  • Shared passenger experience
  • Adaptive cabin environment
  • Multiple activities across the journey
Background Research
52% Would Use Autonomous Travel Time for Movies and Streaming
Deloitte’s study explored how consumers would use their time when driving is no longer the primary task. 74% would make calls, send messages, or check emails, 61% would read, and 52% would watch movies or streaming content. The findings suggest that autonomous mobility could shift travel time toward communication, media, and entertainment.
SourceDeloitte, Global Automotive Consumer Study, 2019
65.5% Preferred Social Interaction During Automated Travel
A 2023 survey of 293 passengers in Malaysia found that the most preferred in-vehicle activities included listening to music, calling or texting, and interacting with others. 65.5% selected social interaction, showing demand for shared experiences alongside individual entertainment.
SourceSulaiman et al., Automotive Experiences, 2023 · Online survey, N = 293
Autonomous Vehicles Are Evolving into Flexible Living Spaces
McKinsey suggests that automated driving will reduce the need for fixed, driver-focused layouts. Flexible seating and living-room-like interiors can support entertainment, work, conversation, and rest, transforming the vehicle from transportation into a space for everyday activity.
SourceMcKinsey & Company, The Future of Interior in Automotive, 2021
Design Challenge

How might an autonomous vehicle adapt to passengers’ changing levels of engagement?

This project explores an in-car gaming experience for Level 4 autonomous vehicles.

Focus SAE Level 4
Driving responsibility The vehicle performs the driving task within defined conditions.
Interior experience Passengers can engage in gaming, socializing, working, or resting.
BMW ALLO autonomous vehicle exterior render with illuminated front grille and wheels
Experience Framework

Designing the vehicle around changing states of engagement

Immersion
How can passengers enter a focused gaming state?
Focus and immersion
Screens emerge, seats orient toward play
Togetherness
How can the vehicle maintain conversation and shared presence?
Shared interaction
Displays recede, seating opens toward others
Recovery
How can the environment transition smoothly from stimulation to rest?
Reduced stimulation
Essential controls remain, ambient content fades
System Overview

One interior, multiple states of engagement

ALLO coordinates seating, displays, and services as one adaptive environment. Rather than treating gaming as a permanent layer, the system changes with passenger intent, supporting focused play when desired and receding during conversation or rest.

01. Play
Focused immersion
Displays expand and the interior shifts toward focused play, supporting immersive individual or shared gaming.
02. Connect
Shared interaction
Screens recede and seating opens toward others, allowing conversation and shared presence to take priority.
03. Rest
Reduced stimulation
Visual density is reduced while essential controls remain accessible, supporting a calmer transition out of immersion.
Feature 1. Adaptive Social Seating

Adaptive Seating for Individual and Shared Play

Conventional vehicle seats assume a fixed, forward-facing posture. In an autonomous vehicle, seating can instead support multiple modes of engagement. The interior allows passengers to shift between individual gaming, shared play, conversation, and rest without treating one posture as the default.

Feature 2. Adaptive Displays

Making Displays Available, Not Always Present

Displays emerge when focused interaction is needed and recede when passengers shift toward conversation or rest. This reduces visual dominance while allowing the same interior to move between immersive and socially open states.

Netflix screen in BMW ALLO cabin Blank display panel with controller docks
Feature 3. Transition Design / Rest Mode

Designing the Transition Out of Immersion

Rest Mode gradually reduces visual density and interaction demands. As the display docks, it retains only essential controls such as climate, lighting, audio, and journey information, helping passengers decompress without abruptly disconnecting them from the environment.

Feature 4. Connected Services

Extending the Experience Beyond the Vehicle

The concept explores how an autonomous vehicle could connect with external services during longer journeys. A delivery interface and docking robot allow passengers to receive food without leaving the shared environment or interrupting an active session.

Delivery app interface screen in BMW ALLO cabin Delivery compartment with food and drinks
Interior

Seating as a multi-posture surface, not a fixed chair

Rather than treating seating as a fixed, forward-facing posture, this project questioned how cultural habits shape comfort, attention, and social interaction during extended periods of play.

Top-down view of BMW ALLO interior showing reconfigured seating layout
In Use

Gaming, rest, and conversation, without a single correct way to sit

By rethinking seats as multi-posture surfaces rather than chairs, the interior supports gaming, rest, and conversation without privileging a single “correct” way to sit.

Passengers gaming and relaxing in the BMW ALLO interior in different postures

From Integrated UX Concept to Physical Prototype

The team translated the digital and spatial experience into a 1:6 physical prototype, integrating the exterior form, adaptive interior, seating configuration, and display placement. The final model was exhibited at Design Korea.

My contribution
  • Defined the passenger experience and mode structure
  • Designed the in-vehicle interface and display behavior
  • Collaborated with mobility designers to integrate digital and spatial interactions