The paper suggests that the increasing similarity of automobile designs is in large part due to the application of essentially the same design tools and methods across the industry. In large part, these design tools are based on strategies of trade-off and optimisation, and are thus fundamentally unable to help derive breakthrough innovation. The paper describes how innovation methods derived from the study of over 2 million patents have been applied to the design of a variety of different automotive systems - from individual components, through major assemblies to total system concept - and examines some of the systematic breakthrough solutions that might be possible.
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