Virtual Design: A Canvas for Magna Products and Technologies

When Magna’s life-size digital electric truck debuted in January at CES 2021, it transformed the way we showcase our innovative products and technology. It also underscored how virtual-reality tools are accelerating the design process and speeding up collaboration with our customers.

The earliest version of the electric truck began in a traditional way, with pen-and-paper sketches by the Magna design team. In fact, it was an evolution of a digital SUV we made for a previous CES.

We took elements of that digital SUV, grew it and reshaped it into an electric truck. We chose an electric truck because it is one of the hottest vehicle segments on the horizon today, especially for consumers who value sustainability. 

Things started to rev up in Magna’s electric truck design process about six months ago. We knew we wanted to update the truck with lighting and other elements, so it was re-sketched again by hand.

As someone whose home office is filled with piles of sketchbooks, I believe there will always be a physical component to design. But new virtual tools are giving designers the ability to move faster and to share data. They also give us more freedom and opportunity with the design process. 

After the initial sketches, our team built the digital version of the truck using a sophisticated computer program that can support a virtual-reality headset and control sticks. 

At that point, our virtual truck could be rotated and viewed from any angle, and you could “step” inside to feel what it’s like in the cabin. Soon, the truck was on its way to Magna’s virtual booth at the virtual CES.

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There are other vehicles in Magna’s virtual garage. 

In addition to the digital electric truck and SUV, there is a car, a small mobility vehicle and a semi-truck. Our virtual vehicles are not meant for the real world. They are not created to predict an existing OEM’s future appearance or preview a Magna vehicle.

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As someone who has a soft spot for hot rods, and is always tinkering in his garage – I’ve worked on everything from a ’32 Chevy to a ’92 Mercedes – I will always like the physical nature of doing things.

But when you build using virtual representation tools, it enables sharing and collaborating much earlier in the development process. And you don’t have to the clean the garage floor afterwards.

Larry Erickson (left) is Magna Automotive's global director of industrial design.