Daniel Czyszczoń has been awarded second place in the Future Luxury Retail Design Competition with his proposal for reconfigurable, autonomous cars that travel to the customer to test drive.
Czyszczoń suggests that the advancement of autonomous-vehicle technology will transform existing retail models meaning customers will no longer be required to visit a showroom. Instead, vehicles will autonomously drive themselves to the location of the customer.
Called BExperience, the proposal aims to introduce specially designed test vehicles that digitally display various materials and finishes, enabling a myriad of configurations that customers can test without having to produce physical materials.
The vehicles being autonomous means that customers can simultaneously test drive the car while travelling to different locations.
The proposal introduces the concept of the Bentley Mirror, a kind of digital billboard that would use augmented-reality technology to show bespoke visuals that are unique to every potential customer in order to pique their interest and draw them into the sales funnel.
The Future Luxury Retail Design Competition judging panel consisted of visualisation artist Charlotte Taylor, Halleroed co-founder Ruxandra Halleröd and Parisian concept store Colette co-founder Sarah Andelman.
They were joined by Chris Cooke, head of design collaborations at Bentley Motors, and Dezeen editorial director Max Fraser. The judging panel selected BExperience as second place in the competition.
"BExperience is a really interesting take on the retail experience," the judges said. "It's taking the retail environment completely out of its traditional form and moving it out into the real world using technology that is currently being developed and could become feasible in the not-too-distant future."
"We really liked the attention to detail, the aspect of storytelling and the different steps of the journey, which are communicated in a unique and refreshing way."
Automotive models shown in imagery are not associated with Bentley.
Read more about the proposal below:
BExperience by Daniel Czyszczoń
Kraków, Poland
Second place
"BExperience is a concept for the experience of selling autonomous vehicles in the near future.
"What makes the fundamental difference? In this case, it is not the user who is required to visit the showroom to experience the product, but the car can drive itself to any location the user chooses. This approach changes the way we look at how we sell a product.
"The project introduces the concept of the Bentley Mirror, a mirror showing the desires of users. Using AR/VR technology and smart goggles, only selective users will see the products offered by the brand in the mirror.
"Due to autonomous vehicle technology, it is the car that appears in the user's life, not the other way around.
"A test drive can therefore be integrated into the user's day-to-day schedule, not only providing a test ride but getting the user from A to B when he or she really needs it.
"Testing in this concept uses Bentley Demo Cars – specially designed vehicles that do not use physical materials but rather an illusion and digital experience – to provide a maximum number of configurations that the user can test without having to produce these materials in the physical world.
"According to this concept, the user buys access, not an object. A key aspect of "luxury of the future" will be flexibility, the ability to choose and change decisions according to our needs, right here and right now."
Future Luxury Retail Design Competition
The Future Luxury Retail Design Competition is a global contest that challenged architects and designers to define the future of luxury retail.
Through the competition, Dezeen and Bentley sought to explore the momentous changes currently taking place in the luxury industry and seek to discover forward-thinking ideas for both digital and physical luxury retail experiences of the future, in and out of the automotive world.
The contest received entries from over 145 contestants from more than 33 countries around the world.
The panel shortlisted 15 proposals, which were published on Dezeen. We are unveiling one finalist a day from 29 August, culminating in the winner being announced on 1 September.
The winner will receive a top prize of £15,000, while the runner-up will receive £10,000 and the third-placed entrant will receive £5,000.
Find out more about the Future Luxury Retail Design Competition ›
Partnership content
The Future Luxury Retail Design Competition is a partnership between Dezeen and Bentley. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.