Transportation and mobility is undergoing a major transformation with the rise of EV’s, increased vehicle autonomy, and the need to be more sustainable. As we look ahead to what engineering trends we will be observing throughout 2025, we see the transportation industry is welcoming a new generation of innovation.

Seating Design

Significant advancements to ergonomics and modular seating solutions prioritising comfort, safety, and space optimisation are expected throughout the year. A focus on adjustable, customisable, and lightweight seats are expected in the automotive sector that can be easily adapted to suit various types of vehicles. Within aerospace, designs are expected to include multifunctional spaces for both commercial and private air travel. Enhancing seating structures to reduce aircraft weight and incorporating more sustainable materials is also something we expect to observe in 2025.

Electrification

Engineering innovations are going to progress the design, development, and optimisation of electric vehicles in 2025. Focus will centre on creating lightweight structures and integrating advanced battery systems to improve energy efficiency and range. Other challenges that will be addressed include thermal management for high-performance batteries, structural design accommodating larger energy storage, and the seamless integration of electronic control systems. Another key focus will be the design of platforms and components that are adaptable across EV models and applications. This will be applicable to automotive, bus & truck and, aerospace, ensuring the systems achieve optimal performance and sustainability requirements.

Platform Strategies & Standardised Processes

Platform strategies will be crucial in 2025 for improving efficiency across the transportation sectors. The common Bill of Process and Common Bill of Design are significant to this, outlining standardised processes and shared component design that can be used for multiple products. For the automotive sector, this means reducing costs and engineering risk by sharing vehicle architectures across a range of vehicles and segment sizes. In Aerospace this is the simplification of designs and assembly of new aircraft. These strategies will enable modularity, faster production cycles, and cost-effective solutions.

Artificial Intelligence

Finding engineering solutions is evolving with the development of AI, impacting the process of design and testing across industries. AI is being used to optimise the designs of vehicle layouts, simulate crash scenarios, and create personalised transportation experiences by predicting user preferences. With the ability to analyse large sets of data quickly, AI is transforming how solutions are found for complex engineering problems, enhancing the efficiency of engineers. This includes smarter predictive maintenance systems in transportation, identifying issues before they occur. Generative design is also becoming more important, using AI to find innovative solutions based on set parameters.

Autonomy

Within the automotive industry, cars are moving towards level 4 and 5 autonomy, meaning cars will be able to operate without human intervention. Transportation is transforming with autonomy becoming more significant in everyday travel, working towards reducing traffic collisions and increasing efficiency. With the role of autonomy increasing, vehicle designs are also being adapted, not just for ergonomics, but also the chassis and suspension systems for sensors and control units required. A key challenge engineers will face in 2025 with regards to autonomy is the creation of robust environments for testing vehicles in a variety of scenarios. These tests are necessary for the safety of autonomous vehicles as they get closer to widespread deployment.

Sustainability

Innovations across transportation will focus on reducing environmental impacts. Increased use of lightweight, recyclable materials and techniques such as additive manufacturing will be used in designs to decrease material waste, optimise production processes, and improve energy efficiency. Efficiency will be a key area of focus in 2025, with engineers working to enhance vehicle aerodynamics and the development of systems, like regenerative braking, for recovering and reusing energy. The end of a vehicle’s life is also becoming increasingly important, prioritising innovation in creating designs that make the disassembly, recycling, and reuse of components easy.

The Envisage engineering and innovation team focuses on delivering innovative solutions to projects, driving efficiency, safety, and sustainability. We have recently supported our clients to stay ahead of the curve in creating the next generation of transportation, staying at the forefront of innovation, we are excited to continue doing so during 2025. For more information about how our engineers can support you contact Craig (cbonham@envisagegroupltd.com) or click here to visit the engineering page.