How will Consumers Prepare for New In-Vehicle Experiences in Autonomous Vehicles?

Experiences Per Mile (EPM) can be defined as hyper-individualized experiences that solve a variety of consumer needs to help drivers and passengers maximize the time spent in their car. As a growing number of OEMs integrate more connected experiences and software-based solutions into their vehicles, measuring EPM has become critical to ensuring consumer needs are always met.

While they are still largely in development, autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already providing users with a blend of these experiences and solutions. With this offering likely to increase as they roll out, it is essential to understand their impact on EPM today. This blog will explore three perspectives that define this impact. In doing so, it will identify how experiences will change for passenger vehicles and how the industry can educate consumers on a world with AVs. It will also work to define the shared AV experience itself.

For passenger vehicles, autonomy will occur on a sliding scale, that is, the change within this sector is expected to happen gradually over time as the technology develops. AVs today are currently achieving SAE Level 2 autonomy, while vehicles capable of delivering Level 3 autonomy are currently in development. This gradual rollout complements a naturally evolving consumer experience in which the in-market technology is introduced to the customer before advancing over time. Simultaneously, the industry can leverage this rollout to research, develop, and test new customer interactions and experiences. These experiences should largely provide drivers and occupants with activities to participate in while the vehicle’s autonomous mode is enabled – providing room for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to deliver new experiences through entertainment and interaction between the vehicle and its occupants. However, before introducing them, the industry must ensure that autonomous vehicles, and the experiences they offer, are accessible to a broad range of consumers and are safe.

A key part in developing this accessibility is educating new vehicle owners thoroughly on the capabilities and limitations of the features they are purchasing. While this education could begin at the point of sale at the dealership or through the OEMs website, automakers could benefit from allowing the user to develop this knowledge independently. Research has indicated that most vehicle education happens during the ownership experience, meaning that new owners are likely to read educational materials, or watch related videos, after purchasing their vehicle. In relating this back to AVs, this gives the in-vehicle experience provider the responsibility of educating consumers on the easy and safe operation of autonomous vehicles with its features. There is a similar responsibility for this experience provider to demonstrate how to use these features best to deliver an optimal and personalized user experience.

In addition to ensuring a satisfactory experience is provided to consumers, it is crucial for the industry to educate the drivers of non-autonomous vehicles who will share road space with AVs. An example that proves the importance of this external education comes from Michigan, where local media announced that Google would be testing an autonomous vehicle on its state roads. However, panic was still generated when other road users in the state saw the vehicle with no one behind the wheel. It is important to note that this is just one of several testing programs taking place across the U.S., with popular automakers and technology firms (including GM, Uber, Lyft, and Apple) testing autonomous vehicles or AV technologies. One way the industry can circumvent this panic is to make sure that these drivers are, at the minimum, aware of the AVs sharing the road space. This could be carried out, for instance, through increased media coverage or partnerships and operations within local communities. It is then equally important for them to know how to deal with these vehicles, understanding that they are not all privately owned, and that not all of them will have safety drivers behind the wheel.

From both perspectives, it is just as important to understand what the shared autonomous vehicle experience will look like. Most of these experiences, such as the robotaxi, work to provide users with a journey centered on comfort and personalization. A personalized experience can take multiple forms based on both the user’s preferences and AI-powered features. Both can learn further preferences from the user through their activity, and identify any habits based on their interactions during the journey in the AV. This process often occurs through the adoption of machine-learning technologies and ultimately bring a consistency to the user experience of AVs and the services shaped around them. In the case of the robotaxi, the in-vehicle experience may include exclusive access to the AV or the partitioning of space within it to enhance privacy – emphasizing the importance of personal space and safety within one autonomous user encounter. The user’s personalized experience must also remain consistent – transferring from one vehicle to the next – requiring the industry to enable ubiquitous connectivity to do so.

The impact of vehicle autonomy will not just be limited to new vehicle owners. Other motorists will be heavily impacted by the existence of autonomous vehicles alone before learning to share road space with them. Similarly, users of autonomous vehicles and robotaxi services themselves will have to adapt to new, personalized, shared vehicle experiences. As such, the industry must ensure that all road users are taken into consideration when developing new autonomous features and even more so when developing autonomous vehicles and services.

The Experiences Per Mile Advisory Council, facilitated by Harman and SBD Automotive, is comprised of industry executives that are studying all aspects of mobility including vehicle personalization. This blog was written by summarizing thoughts from members during brainstorming sessions about the Autonomous Vehicle Experience. By fueling cross-industry collaboration and driving towards the same consumer experience objectives, we can advance the connected automotive industry and introduce meaningful technology and innovation.