Here's Jony Ive's Ferrari Luce EV Interior and Interface Design

Source: MacRumors

Background

In 2021, Ferrari and its parent company Exor announced a multi‑year creative partnership with LoveFrom, the design firm co‑founded by Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive and fellow designer Marc Newson. At an event held at the Transamerica Pyramid, near LoveFrom’s San Francisco studio, Ferrari revealed the interior and interface of its first fully electric car, named Luce (Italian for “light”).

Design Philosophy

Automotive journalist Jordan Golson (PRNDL) explains that the Luce is designed around the premise that a car’s interface should be operable largely by feel, with minimal visual distraction. Ive argues that touchscreens made sense for the iPhone because they solved a general‑purpose problem, but they are unsuitable for driving:

“To use touch in a car is something I would never dream of doing, because it requires that you look at what you’re doing.”

Following this premise, the steering wheel and binnacle form a clear driving zone where physical inputs are separated from visual outputs. Core functions such as climate control, seat heating, and drive modes use dedicated mechanical switches and dials.

Key Features

• Physical controls with contextual displays – Mechanical inputs trigger contextual responses on layered OLED screens in the instrument binnacle, which also includes a real mechanical needle that moves between the displays.
• Steering wheel design – An exposed aluminum structure houses glass‑and‑metal buttons that are differentiated by touch. Paddle shifters control EV‑specific functions like regenerative braking and torque delivery.
• Glass key with E‑Ink display – The key appears Ferrari yellow in the pocket. Because E‑Ink is bistable, it consumes no power when static. When the driver enters the car, a magnet in the center console guides the key into a dedicated dock; pressing it down causes the yellow to fade to black as the key integrates with the glass surface of the console. Ive refers to this as “theater,” re‑imagining the ritual of starting an electric car.

Further Reading

• Golson’s full coverage on PRNDL: Jordan Golson’s PRNDL article
• Exclusive video (embedded in the original post).