Hello there, we are Onboard, a brand-new software company from Berlin. Since this year we’re working on a virtual vehicle interior workshop for transportation designers in consultancies, agencies and OEMs.

We are happy to announce that we are now supported by DesignFarmBerlin, an accelerator focusing on design-driven start-ups. They are granting scholarships combined with a tailored mentorship program, thus providing the basis we need to go our first steps.

Onboard is based on the master thesis of my co-founder Henning R. Horstmann and together we want to turn his proof of concept into a mature product. Digital product design is constantly evolving through innovative, user-centered approaches and a good user experience becomes a requirement for successful products. However, the design process of spatial, analogue products faces difficulties in adapting those strategies.

We believe that modern technologies such as virtual reality can help to rethink and substantially improve processes by being capable of doing more than physically possible.

Public transportation is a major factor for urban life. With growing cities and booming tourism, good transportation design has a high impact on the quality of life of millions and billions of residents and visitors. Nevertheless, the focus in vehicle development today is mainly on technical implementation, and hardly on people’s needs. Wrong assumptions then result in fundamental decisions that cannot be changed any more and cause long-term costs — and frustration. Our goal is to offer a new perspective.

Early, virtual prototyping enables an unmatched collaboration and communication between customers, buyers, managers and designers. Ideas that became visible late through 1:1 models are easier to understand, can be questioned earlier, and accelerate the decision-making process. Our vision is a virtual interface that makes design models transparent and accessible for all team members, to promote a dialogue among each other and within the design itself.

We are at the beginning of an exciting journey and our product is in an early phase. We invest a lot of time in optimizing and testing the virtual environment to make it ready for a first beta. In order to develop a tailor-made solution for our customers, we are already using Onboard with partners. If you have a relevant project and would like to experience working with Onboard, please do not hesitate to contact us.

By the way: We are looking for a talented developer who is just as excited to revolutionize the way transportation design works. Interested? This way!