What it takes to make a car feel magical | Eric Wood

What it takes to make a car feel magical | Eric Wood

From Design This Day by Teague

November 10, 2025 · 26 min · Episode 11

About this episode

Devin Liddell speaks with Eric Wood about transforming automotive design through software and the future of car experiences.

Devin speaks with Eric Wood, Senior VP of Product Experience at 42dot, a subsidiary of Hyundai. He's also the former head of design at Rivian. Eric has been at the forefront of using software to transform the automotive world – not just in how cars are built, but in how we experience them. In this conversation, we explore what happens when you stop designing cars around horsepower and steel and start designing them as programmable machines instead. We also dig into the global competition shaping the future of cars and the rare moment when science fiction actually gets it right. 02:01 Camp Mode: origin story 04:41 Rethinking power and unlocking new features 07:24 Software vs. hardware: the changing nature of cars 11:07 Nostalgia and the evolution of car experiences 12:33 Designing features out of existence 15:57 Global competition and iterative speed 22:25 Lightening round Links Devin Liddell on LinkedIn Eric Wood on LinkedIn Teague About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations…

People in this episode

Host: Devin Liddell

Guest: Eric Wood

Topics covered

  • automotive design
  • software in cars
  • programmable machines
  • global competition
  • car experiences
  • innovation

Keywords

  • automotive
  • design
  • software
  • innovation
  • programmable
  • competition
  • experiences

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 42dot, Hyundai, Rivian, Teague

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