Overview
TomTom Digital Cockpit platform enabled carmakers, system integrators, and digital service providers to design, build, and run in‑vehicle experiences on a shared, secure foundation.
Instead of building a new infotainment system for every car line, the platform allows services to be built once and scaled across multiple brands and vehicles—while giving carmakers full control over UX, safety, and customization.
Instead of building a new infotainment system for every car line, the platform allows services to be built once and scaled across multiple brands and vehicles—while giving carmakers full control over UX, safety, and customization.
The UX Strategy was to create a seamless and engaging in-car user experience with a voice-first approach, integrating users’ digital lives and ensuring a comprehensive cockpit experience centered on safety. This encompassed everything from the Infotainment system to the Cluster Display and passenger interfaces. It involved the system UI Framework, Notifications, System feedback & Acknowledgments, as well as multimodal interactions like Voice, Focus UI, and touch. We designed key domain applications, including Navigation, Entertainment, Communication, Settings & Personalization, and Climate controls.
The challenges
Here's some background on the user-facing issues in the automotive industry.
Digital cockpits often fall short in user experience: content isn’t always up to date, and vehicles quickly become outdated. Despite OEM efforts—adding more screens and interactive services—current HMIs are still outperformed by smartphones.
Drivers and passengers struggle to integrate their digital lives into the cockpit in a safe and comfortable way, as the cockpit isn’t connected to their broader digital ecosystem. Usually, the ecosystem inside and outside the car are disconnected, resulting in an unfamiliar user experience and a lack of digital continuity.
Although OEMs are introducing innovative safety features, road fatalities are increasing due to driver distraction from smartphones. This problem is compounded by the fact that owners of vehicles with advanced safety systems often switch them off because they don’t trust the systems or find them too intrusive.
The challenge wasn’t designing another in‑car experience.
How do you design a reference digital cockpit platform for OEMs—one flexible enough to be customized per brand, but opinionated enough to set a strong UX direction from day one?
How do you design a reference digital cockpit platform for OEMs—one flexible enough to be customized per brand, but opinionated enough to set a strong UX direction from day one?
My role
My role at TomTom was divided into three distinct areas, requiring careful balancing to ensure success and impact throughout the project. Initially, I served as a Lead UX Designer, contributing directly alongside the team. As the team expanded, I shifted my focus to creative leadership, where I defined strategies, explored new opportunity areas, and engaged with business leads. I managed a team of designers—including specialists in interaction, visual design, voice, and research—providing guidance, inspiration, and coaching. Additionally, I was part of the TomTom UX management team, helping to improve processes and oversee talent acquisition.
This project began entirely from scratch.
Founded the design team, clarified our core values and workflows, defined processes, and promoted collaboration across all stakeholders—including product managers, developers, marketing, and sales. Established the vision, strategy, and design principles. Designed, developed, and launched the initial MVP. I’d love to say it all began with a sketch, but that wasn't the case. We began with a human-centered approach.
A good foundation: The UX framework
The first six months were all about the foundation —the UX framework. After setting our Design principles, we aimed to translate the Vision and UX objectives into concrete Design concepts. During the first six months, we designed, tested, and iterated extensively.
Our goal was to create a System that is user-friendly, provides drivers with relevant information, delights users through fluid and seamless interactions, and adapts to various screen sizes and orientations.
We incorporated additional iterative feedback from user testing and drive testing. This was crucial for evaluating the product's usability and safety while driving—something very difficult to verify from a desk. I won’t delve into all our research methodologies and processes, but I can highlight the approach used in designing the UX framework.
The Experience
TomTom Digital Cockpit brings order to a traditionally fragmented cockpit,
A flexible UX framework leveraging modular, customizable components to support scalability, reduce design debt, and empower teams to deliver cohesive yet adaptable user experiences.
A unified, holistic system
Vehicle feedback, infotainment, navigation, communication, productivity, and ADAS are designed to coexist—not fight for attention. Each app understands its role within the larger system.
Multi‑modal interaction by default
Users can interact via touch, hardware controls, or voice—depending on context. IndiGO integrates out‑of‑the‑box with personal assistants like Alexa and Cerence, and carmakers can extend them with custom skills that connect directly to vehicle functions.
Platform, not just product
IndiGO allows third‑party services to be developed, tested, and demoed in a fully working infotainment environment—without building a custom IVI system just to show value.
Build once, scale across brands and vehicles.
The impact
TomTom Digital Cockpit enabled carmakers to ship high‑quality digital cockpits faster, with less risk and lower cost, while retaining full ownership and control over their software.
By providing a strong, opinionated reference platform, IndiGO gives OEMs a clear UX starting point that already addresses real driver needs—safety, clarity, and continuity—while still allowing deep customization and brand differentiation.
At the same time, drivers benefit from a more intuitive, less distracting in‑car experience, and digital service providers gain a scalable path to market with realistic testing and demo capabilities.
The result is a sustainable ecosystem that balances user trust, OEM flexibility, and platform scalability.