Abstract: An ambient output system for a vehicle comprising: a detector to detect a plurality of elements of an environment external to the vehicle; an identification unit to identify each element; a rendering unit to create a virtual space representing the external environment, the rendering unit operable to populate the virtual space with the vehicle and each identified element; an association unit operable to apply a respective emanating field to each identified element within the virtual space, each emanating field being based on, and emanating from, the identified element to an associated range; one or more ambient output devices operable to set the internal ambient environment of the vehicle; and an orchestration unit operable to determine any emanating fields the vehicle is within in the virtual space and set the output of the ambient output devices based on any emanating fields the vehicle is within.