Auto Revolution 2019: The Disruptive Implications Of Intelligent Connected Vehicles

“Right now, while cars are still built in a very standard way, they are all driven by consumers in very particular ways. In the future, intelligent vehicles will need to learn specific consumer preferences and adapt their operations to the way people want to be driven”
— Bernardo Rodriguez, J.D. Power

The automotive industry must engage in a comprehensive and high-profile discussion on the implications of intelligent vehicles to ensure consumer trust and adoption, according to Bernardo Rodriguez, Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, in an audio interview for journalists covering the Auto Revolution 2019 conference Las Vegas on October 23-24. 

“Disruption is happening in many dimensions across the automotive market. It is changing the way people use and buy cars and is introducing new economic models for mobility,” says Rodriguez.

The one thing that all of these disruptive developments share in common -- whether we are talking about making purchases online, adopting car-sharing services, or purchasing electric and increasingly autonomous vehicles -- is that they are underpinned by intelligent systems that allow the market to understand consumers at a very granular level, and allows every experience to be personalized for each individual.

Full Audio Interview w/ Bernardo Rodriguez

“This is increasingly true about how we select our vehicles, how we drive...or ride...our cars, and how we feel about the overall ownership experience. These trends are having an immense impact on how the industry thinks about ensuring consumer engagement and adoption of these new innovative offerings in a profitable and sustainable manner,” he says.

Dynamic Interactions Among Vehicles and Consumers

The most important new variable that is being introduced into the mobility experiences revolves around the intelligent interaction that can now take place between consumers and their riding experience every time they get into a vehicle. This is true across the spectrum of ride sharing, car sharing and even the personal auto experience.

“The arrival of more connected, intelligent and automated vehicles -- whether we own them or not -- means that we have an important new source of information that allows us to understand critical interactions that affect the driving and/or ownership experience,” Rodriguez explains.

“With increasingly connected cars J.D. Power is working with the industry to capture signals -- the Voice of the Vehicle (VoV), if you will -- to find valuable insights,” he says.

It is important, however, to move forward with these analytical initiatives in a thoughtful manner.

“It raises important questions about what to do with this information. How can the industry capture data to produce a better machine that delivers a safer and more convenient experience to consumers in a way that supports trust and engagement?” he asks.

Learning Together Digitally

The answer will likely lie in redefining -- or at least extending -- the nature of the relationship that exists among consumers, their vehicles and an automotive industry that is delivering a product that is now surrounded by an array of technology-enabled services.

“In today’s digital environment the relationships of consumers, their cars and the industry is less transactional and more dynamic. As cars are more digitally enabled and autonomous, they will be able to make decisions about how to drive, where to drive, how fast, how slow, how to take the curve etc. Those decisions must be in synch with the desires and preferences of the driver, and/or the rider. This will be critical to ensuring consumer trust that will ultimately be critical to the adoption of these innovations,” says Rodriguez.

“Right now, while cars are still built in a very standard way, they are all driven by consumers in very particular ways. In the future, intelligent vehicles will need to learn specific consumer preferences and adapt their operations to the way people want to be driven -- within safety standards of course,” he says.

Addressing these issues will require a comprehensive multi-disciplinary collaboration that will involve the entire industry.

“We are in a really fascinating stage of development in the automotive sector. These are just some of the key questions that we need to explore together, which is what we will set out to do in Vegas at Auto Revolution 2019,” concludes Rodriguez.