Podcast Summary

Podcast: Design Better
Episode: Jae Park: Designing a new generation of vehicles at Ford, and why friction matters in the creative process
Hosts: Eli Woolery and Aaron Walter, The Curiosity Department
Guest: Jae Park, VP of Digital Product Design, Ford Electric Vehicle Digital Design Division
Date: September 17, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores the role of friction and slowness in the creative process, particularly in the age of AI and rapid technological change. Guest Jae Park discusses his journey from leading design at tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to reinventing Ford's approach to digital product design for electric vehicles (EVs). The conversation delves into balancing tradition and innovation at Ford, the global landscape of automotive and tech manufacturing, and how designers must adapt as AI transforms both design tools and their very purpose.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Art of Friction and Slowness in Design

• Jae Park questions current creative trends:

  “As a designer or as a human, what happened to the art of approaching a blank canvas? How fast do you want things to come to you? There's something good about the slowness of things.” (00:01)

• Hosts reflect on AI's impact:
  • Aaron Walter notes that AI can rapidly generate design output, raising questions about what’s lost as friction disappears from the creative process. (00:27)

2. From Silicon Valley to Detroit: Adapting Product Design

• Jae describes varied approaches at tech and auto giants:
  • At Microsoft and Google: Software-centric, serving massive user bases where small changes affect millions.
  • At Amazon: Close synergy between hardware and software.
  • At Ford: “You're building physical bodies. The big shift is adding the mind, the idea of having service. So having these three things connect is where most products are going.” (04:02)

3. Ford’s Digital Transformation

• Evolution from Manufacturing to Product Company:
  • Ford's journey involves integrating digital design with their storied tradition in physical manufacturing.

  “Ford is trying to find its footing on what it is to be a product company from a manufacturing company.” (05:31)

• Building a digital design team:

  “My charter was to come in and build out that team of experts... You work inside out rather than outside in. So that's been the biggest shift.” (05:31)

4. The Three Big Disruptions in Automotive Design

• Electrification, Autonomy, Digitization:
  • Ford’s ongoing pivot includes embedding Google’s AAOS in vehicles.

  “Now thinking about AI more holistically is becoming that next big thing that has to bind all of these together.” (07:25)

5. China’s Lead in Vehicle-Tech Integration

• The Phone and Car Are Blending:
  • In China, companies like Xiaomi and Huawei design both the phone and the car’s OS, creating seamless experiences.

  “They sort of jumped over a couple of generations and went straight to using EV vehicle as a clean canvas. They're building in more like a product.” (09:08)

• First principles approach:
  • Chinese EVs are approached as computers on wheels, with clean architectures and deep integration between hardware and software.

  “They built the EV more like a product… fundamentally it works like a phone on wheels.” (10:25)

6. Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Tensions

• The US and China are on divergent paths:
  • The US is investing heavily in AI “factories” for technology, while China dominates supply chains for the physical “intelligent product factories.”

  “If you think about what a modern industrial core is...there’s two factories...One is the AI factory...The other one is intelligent product factories, things that can build intelligent products, including cars.” (13:20)

• Redundancy and regionalization concerns:
  • Park highlights the inefficiency of redundant infrastructure in the US, where scattered investment may not effectively challenge China’s focused industrial policies. (16:46)

7. Affordability, Strategy Shifts, and “Early Majority Blues” in EV Adoption

• Ford pivots to affordable EVs:
  • Acknowledges the “early majority blues”—high costs, supply challenges, and range anxiety slow broad adoption.

  “We did a hard pivot about a year ago...unloaded them and instead changed that strategy to load more affordable EV platform from ground up.” (19:25)

• Strategic analogy:

  “You’re on a small hill, you see a bigger hill...In reality...you see a small hill and then you see a big valley and then you get to the top of the hill. And so EV journey is just that. We're going through that valley.” (21:21)

8. Platformization vs. Customization for Iconic Products

• EVs and the challenge of truck customization:
  • F-150 and Super Duty remain the bedrock, requiring customizable design while using platform-first approaches for efficiency and scalability.

  “We have this 80/20 rule about how do we build this new OS that can serve all the portfolio...and then still find that uniqueness that makes each vehicle or each domain special.” (27:29)

9. The Coming Wave: AI, Interface Design, and Workforce Disruption

• Design’s Socratic Turn:

  “With AI...you're pulling. You can say, let there be a chair. You're asking a question first. It's very Socratic. Then you're refining that idea. So from a design process, that's why I keep saying I don't think we have the right interface for it.” (30:34)

• Antiquated UIs and the future of interaction:
  • Predicts new interface paradigms will supersede mouse, click, and tap, becoming more question-driven and contextually adaptive.
• Workforce impacts:
  • Park anticipates significant knowledge worker displacement as AI and robotics mature, referencing historical waves of labor shifts.

  “As we start to deindustrialize, that becomes our main way. And then now we're sort of holding onto that peak office and trying to embrace the peak AI hasn't reached yet. But in five years it probably will.” (34:45)

10. The Value of Friction in Creation

• Park expresses mixed feelings on ultra-fast, AI-powered design iteration:

  “There's something good about the slowness of things...We've lost that part of creation if we just go too fast. And I'm trying to figure out what is that version because right now I feel like everything we talk about is fast speed. Velocity is almost like microwaving your way into production.” (37:11)

• Collateral damage of automation:
  • “I think the collateral damage is we're going to need less humans. It's just like, I mean that's just the reality.” (38:17)

11. The Cultural and Geopolitical Stakes

• Dark Factories and National Strategy:
  • China moves to humanoid robotics to address demographic challenges; Park argues for a US-wide coordinated response.

  “In the US I feel like individual companies isn't going to scale. You need like a national plan. You're not going to secure enough supply to get the cost down.” (41:23)

12. Designing for an AI-Native Generation

• Looking a decade ahead:
  • Gen Alpha will soon enter driving age; as AI natives, their expectations will transform what vehicles—and their digital experiences—should be.

  “You really have to take first principles approach to what an in-cabin experience is, what a vehicle is even. Because by then you're going to have quite a bit of interesting products out there.” (43:38)

13. Inspiration and the Importance of Basics

• Jae Park’s inspiration:

  “I'm realizing spending more time with your loved ones is what's inspiring and wanting to do more of that. It’s really that simple.” (45:55)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You're building physical bodies. The big shift is adding the mind, the idea of having service. So having these three things connect is sort of where most products are going.” — Jae Park (04:02)
• “As a designer or as a human, what happened to the art of approaching a blank canvas?... There's something good about the slowness of things.” — Jae Park (00:01, 37:11)
• “They built the EV more like a product… fundamentally it works like a phone on wheels.” — Jae Park on Chinese EV manufacturers (10:25)
• “With AI...you're pulling. You can say, let there be a chair. You're asking a question first. It's very Socratic. Then you're refining that idea.” — Jae Park (30:34)
• “The challenge with exponential growth is also the rate of how different class of workers would get displaced...We're about to go through a big one in my mind.” — Jae Park (34:45)
• “You really have to take first principles approach to what an in cabin experience is, what a vehicle is even. Because by then you're going to have quite a bit of interesting products out there.” — Jae Park (43:38)
• “I'm realizing spending more time with your loved ones is what's inspiring and wanting to do more of that. It's really that simple.” — Jae Park (45:55)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:01 – The art (and loss) of friction in creativity
• 03:14 – Jae Park's transition from tech giants to Ford
• 05:31 – Ford’s design legacy and digital transformation
• 07:25 – Three major disruptions in the auto industry
• 09:08 – How China reimagines the relationship between phone and car
• 13:20 – US vs. China: supply chains, manufacturing, and power
• 19:25 – The strategic pivot to affordable EVs and 'early majority blues'
• 27:29 – Designing for customization vs. platform efficiency at Ford
• 30:34 – Socratic method and the future of AI-driven design processes
• 34:45 – Anticipating labor displacement from AI and robotics
• 37:11 – The value of slowness and reflection in creation
• 41:23 – Dark factories, robotics, and the need for US policy coordination
• 43:38 – Designing for the AI-native Gen Alpha
• 45:55 – What’s inspiring Jae Park today

Closing Thoughts

Jae Park’s insights illuminate the tension between speed and reflection, tradition and transformation, and human ingenuity and AI automation. The journey of Ford, as narrated by Park, mirrors broader societal transitions in the age of AI, robotics, and geopolitical competition—reminding designers and business leaders alike that true breakthroughs often come from engaging fully with “the valley” between disruptions.