Volvo is heating up!
Literally – warming themselves in the cold winters up north with visions of how pretty the 2015 XC90 needs to be.
The Swedish team has developed some scientific assessments of car styling that use heat maps to identify viewer emotions.
As the viewer’s eye circles the car, tracking software is able to learn and highlight the areas of the car design they like best. Sounds completely absurd, like something from science fiction?
Nope. The Swedes know many things about cold versus hot temperatures.
As shown in the below graphics, the Best of 2013 Award-winning Concept Coupe’s style is heat-mapped.
Key favorite items (in their eyeball-trackers experiment) include the front detailing, the windshield and glasshouse, the coupe bodystyle, and more.
But what to do with this data? How to apply the findings to upcoming designs?
Pick the hottest parts of the researcher’s heat maps, and transfer those designs to the road cars almost unaltered.
Result? The very attractive XC Coupe Concept.
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.