ABOUT

CloudMade was a pioneering automotive AI company operating between London and Kyiv, Ukraine. Long before ChatGPT and the current wave of generative AI, the company was working closely with OEMs to explore how artificial intelligence could make the vehicle experience smarter and more personalised.

Its technology included predictive navigation, intelligent drive modes, occupancy recognition, adaptive climate control, and smart parking and payment. These systems responded to user behaviour, time of day and seasonal changes, becoming increasingly intuitive with continued use.

CloudMade approached me to design an intelligent vehicle interface that connected the in-car and mobile experiences. The visual design was intentionally brand-neutral and premium, allowing the technology to be demonstrated clearly while meeting the level of execution expected by automotive OEMs.

To show how these ideas could work in practice, we developed mobile app prototypes and retrofitted a completely new HMI into a Volkswagen Golf.

One of the most interesting challenges was replacing the Golf’s physical instrument cluster with a digital display. This required us to rebuild the cluster’s functionality to meet legal and functional safety requirements.

Working directly with developers and engineers to interpret and respond to live vehicle signals was a revelation. It allowed us to push features and driver feedback far beyond what the original system offered, particularly around ADAS.