The beauty of a car is in the details, in the tension of lines in the design. The more attention goes into these lines, the more beautiful the car will be. The room to play with in automotive design is only a few centimeters.

At TEDxDelft, Lowie Vermeersch talked about the impact of (government) safety regulations on car design. There are enormous force fields influencing the way cars look. One of the consequences of the rules is the size of the car and therefore the mass, engine-size and the amount of material that goes in all cars all over the world.

If we were to change the car system into intelligent system where cars are interconnected, all safety regulation would be solved in other ways. Car design could be turned upside down. It would be like designing mobility all over again, not just about the vehicle anymore. By considering mobility as a interconnected system, the complete infrastructure will change opening up a new world of possibilities to redesign our personal experience.

Vehicles are entering the digital evolution. Change will come from the non-physical elements such as communication. Designers will focus on designing pleasure and improving the quality of life. This means car designers will evolve from esthetic designers to designers of a much larger experience.

Lowie Vermeersch was design director of Pininfarina, Italy until early 2011. Born in Belgium on May 9, 1974, Lowie Vermeersch grew up in the Flanders and is part of the 3rd generation of a prominent artistic family. After graduating at the Delft University of Technology he joined Pininfarina in 1998 as a designer and became Design Director in 2007.

On 7 November 2011 over 900 people gathered in the beautiful city of Delft for the first TEDx event in Delft, the Netherlands: TEDxDelft. We had 20 live speakers on stage talking about a wide range of subjects. A few of our speakers: Theo Jansen, Irma Boom, Huba de Graaff, Leo Kouwenhoven, Erik Meijer, Lodewijk van den Berg, Kas Oostheruis, Bauke Steenhuisen and Lowie Vermeersch. More information on http://www.TEDxDelft.nl

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)