Digital disruptors: “assistance, automation and augmentation”

"Disruption". This was the outset of the speech by Angie Cucco, an expert in digital advertising for Google: the major changes affecting the automotive market. "Every break or major change can be frightening, yet  every disruption can also be a revolution". The current digital revolution in particular is upsetting all the markets: just think about how we buy a movie or a TV series (Netflix), how we organize a trip (Airbnb) or how money or bank services have changed (Bitcoin). Every industry is experiencing this “digital disruption”, and the automotive industry is no exception, as evidenced by such cases as Tesla and Uber or Google’s autonomous driving project, Waymo. However, in order to manage these changes and appeal to tomorrow’s consumers, three key concepts must be clear: assistance, automation and augmented reality.

Assistance. In this field, we must keep in mind that Google records over a billion searches every month for car parts and services, that people respond more positively and expect personalized advertising, and even (Gearshift 2017 surveys) that people are impatient: 53 % in fact, will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. "People expect you to be present online - explains Cucco - But you also need creative ways to assist them". Examples include the Google Assistant system, but also GM's "Onstar Technology", an interface that allows you to drive your car to a filling station and pay from the dashboard, choose a restaurant and book a table, or the latest Google Assistant AI development in which, a voice assistant is perfectly capable of interacting with others on the phone in your place.
 
Automation. Today, according to CapGemini, 75% of all consumers admit to be willing to buy a car online, and Autovista Group expects that in five years one out of five cars in Britain will be sold online, while Hedges and Co. foresees that the online auto parts market will reach 10 billion dollars as early as 2018 in the United States. "Consumers want their lives to be faster and easier through IT", emphasizes Cucco, who then went on to relate how, for example, the CNN system spreads personalized news on Facebook Messenger, not to mention smart home systems or automatic screens for ordering meals at Mc Donald's, Starbucks or Domino's Pizza: the latter, already in 2016, experimented delivering pizzas with flying drones.

Augmented reality. Digitization allows customers to try out a product online. In Europe alone billions of views on You Tube concern automotive parts or services, while according to Gearshift, 62% of consumers would be willing to try a virtual reality helmet before choosing a car: therefore we can safely say that the automotive sector lends itself very much to virtual and augmented reality. As examples we can mention a popular game such as "Pokemon Go", but there are also other experiments on movie posters (which once framed with a mobile phone will provide additional information on the movie or show the trailer). Jeep recently launched its "Jeep CompassVisualizer", which allows you to see a car, and configure it in 3D on your mobile phone. "All this means that you can embrace this revolution - continues Cucco - The recommendation, however, is to take small steps into the future, anticipating your customer’s needs, for example with personalized messages, uploading customer data on your computer systems and bringing your shop or workshop to the consumer and not the other way round, and keep updating your Internet site, making it more user-friendly and producing videos and tutorials. It's easy to innovate - she concludes - if you know what your customers need . There's no need to turn your whole business around, but you have to keep an open mind".

Video of the speech