The focus on autonomous and shared vehicles will bring changes not only to the way people live and work, but also to the design profession in the auto industry, according to experts.

The car-design industry is now focusing on two types of cars: personal and autonomous/shared, according to industrial designers at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Kimberly Marte, co-owner of Design Spectrum, with almost 20 years of experience in automotive design, said the changes in the auto industry will demand different kinds of people in the auto workforce.

Marte said she is already seeing companies employing types of designers other than traditional engineers who design cars, including graphic and interior designers, to bring a new aspect to the future of automobiles.

"Innovation has a risk of failure, but not innovating carries the bigger risk of corporate failure," Marte said, emphasizing that automakers need to think in a different way as the industry changes.

Jenny Ha, senior exterior designer at Lucid Motors, echoed Marte.

"Just do something different," Ha said.

Besides the workforce, autonomous and shared vehicles could also impact population areas, Marte and Ha said.

Instead of living near big cities to be nearwhere the jobs are, people can live farther out and commute longer, using their time in an autonomous car to work or rest, Marte said.

Ha echoed that sentiment, saying people could even live somewhere like Los Angeles and commute into San Francisco, six hours away.

However, both experts said there needs to be global regulations for autonomous vehicles instead of piecemeal country-by-country, or state-by-state, rules.