Hot Topics with CAR’s President and CEO, Carla Bailo (2/18/2022)

On a bi-weekly basis, CAR welcomes our audience to decompress with our President and CEO, Carla Bailo, as she covers and shares her thoughts on the latest Hot Topics happening in the automotive industry. While the biweekly newsletter primarily covers four topics, this feature story previews two of the topics covered on February 18, 2022. If you would like access to the full newsletter for better insights into critical industry issues you and your organization are facing, sign up for our mailing list here.

 

 

Driver Monitoring

Carla’s thoughts:

I hope you were able to join the CAR webinar on this subject. Here is the link.

The more I learn on this topic, the more I have yet to understand. We put systems in vehicles to aid in safety and avoid dangerous situations due to distraction or substance abuse – this is good. People become accustomed to them and become complacent – this is bad. We advertise conditions that show you can “do other things” – this is bad. We want the driver always to stay cognizant when the car is driving for them – this is hard!

First, it would be welcome for the industry to align as never before on terminology and specifications for these systems to avoid driver confusion. Then, driver training and vehicle understanding need to be reinforced (without thinking someone will take time to read a multi-page owner’s manual). Then, we need the talent in human behavior to find a way to keep drivers engaged when they aren’t actively driving. This position is a different type of person for the mobility sector, and new disciplines on planning teams are genuinely required. How can this be a situation where the driver “wants” to pay attention and isn’t so easily distracted. Maybe more voice activation for the “things” that distract them? I’m sure there are plenty of great ideas out there.

The point is that this isn’t easy, and there is no simple solution. I’ll make the plea again for the automotive and mobility industry to work hand-in-hand with regulators and academia to find a solution and find it before the NHTSA mandate comes out in 2 years. Let’s make it a solution that is the best compromise of safety and personal data security.

 

Software-Defined Vehicles

Carla’s thoughts:

Connected car and data monetization are coming back strongly into the discussions of mobility providers these days. Several companies are creating new teams/departments/divisions just for this topic. Equally important is the human-machine interface (HMI) inside the vehicle. It’s great that the car can communicate with the cloud, but the human inside the vehicle needs to communicate as well so that the car is sending the correct information. That process can’t be cumbersome, or the occupants won’t utilize it or opt-in.

It is said that this data will be worth about $550M by 2027, so we can easily understand why everyone is scrambling to capture a piece of this. This outcome will only be true if there is a clear benefit to the occupants, which means the mobility companies need to think and design just like a technology company. What will excite the customer? What will engage and delight them? Know this, and you’ve got a path to the money.

CAR will be holding a webinar on March 23 with Red Hat to talk about this subject, and here is the link to register.

 

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