Kia, in partnership with creative agency Innocean Berlin, has unveiled Soundscapes, an ambitious new project that reimagines how passengers experience movement. More than just a technological showcase, the initiative is a sensory-driven exploration of connection and inclusivity, offering a new way to interpret the world through sound.
The heart of the Soundscapes project lies in its innovative use of the Kia EV9’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). By capturing the surrounding topography in real-time, the vehicle’s AI system translates the natural landscape into music, transforming a standard road trip into an immersive, auditory journey. Passengers are invited to engage with their environment not through sight, but through a sonic interpretation of their surroundings.
This concept holds particular significance for visually impaired passengers. David Hilbert, Marketing Director at Kia Europe, stated that the project aims to demonstrate how technology can overcome barriers and enrich lives. Kia’s belief that “movement inspires ideas” serves as the foundation of this initiative, with Soundscapes acting as a tangible expression of that ethos.
The technical and creative execution was led by Innocean Berlin in collaboration with Harald Schaack of grotesk.group, who developed the system to map landscape features and feed them into a real-time music generator. Schaack’s algorithm interprets visual data from the ADAS system and translates it into audio signals.
To ensure these soundscapes were both expressive and grounded in emotional resonance, music producer Wonder Bettin of DaHouse GmbH was brought on board. Each natural object encountered by the vehicle was given a unique musical quality, chosen to reflect its perceived size, texture, and movement. Bettin explained that music has the power to awaken the imagination in profound ways, offering new perspectives and making the unseen deeply felt.
To bring the project to life, Kia took two passengers with vision loss on a drive through some of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. Their reactions, captured in a series of short documentaries, revealed a deep emotional connection to the journey, as they experienced movement and inspiration through sound for the first time.
Gabriel Mattar, Chief Creative Officer at Innocean Berlin, described Soundscapes as a powerful example of Kia’s design philosophy, Movement that Inspires. He emphasised the brand’s ongoing commitment to innovation that goes beyond vehicles—seeking instead to create meaningful, human-centric experiences.
With Soundscapes, Kia and Innocean have demonstrated that mobility can be more than transportation. It can be a medium for discovery, inclusion, and emotional engagement—one that speaks not only to the future of automotive design but to the future of how we connect with the world around us.
