Prior literature has emphasized the challenges of appropriating digital innovation in terms of combining digital and physical components to produce novel goods and services. However, there is a lack of more detailed understanding of how actors draw on experience, careful judgment and learning to drive digital innovation processes towards a projected future vision. In this paper, we explore how actors at a large incumbent car-manufacturing firm engage with digital innovation as they grapple with complex user expectations through the lens of phronesis. On the basis of engaged scholarship and interviews with members of two research and development (R&D) teams, we pay attention to the particular capacities, here termed phronetic principles, that guide user centric development work. Based on this, we propose five principles of importance for understanding digital innovation process: 1) projecting visions, 2) value-based judgment, 3) attuning to particulars, 4) open-mindedness, and 5) perpetual learning.