Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
An article in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine explored AI chatbot-to-chatbot communications.
It’s hard to find anyone who isn’t at a minimum leveraging their AI bot to draft and proofread emails before they go out. We are increasing turning to AI for financial advice, medical diagnoses and even companionship.
The NYT article discusses the use of AI in job searches; how job seekers use AI chatbots to churn out resumes and cover letters, while employers use AI to sift through an overwhelming number of applications; high school students ask their AI chatbot to write essays and teachers then use AI to grade them; and people who send their AI agent to argue with a company’s AI customer service system.
Customer support may become two bots locked in a recursive loop, sure to become more common as we all grow to trust our AI bot to do our bidding.
What are the implications on the future of car buying?
In the near future, car buyers may turn to their trusted bot to reach out 10 different dealerships to confirm that their preferred vehicle is in stock and to initiate price negotiations. From there, it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that many consumers will ask the bot to negotiate the entire deal: the valuation of the trade, negotiation of price, submitting of a credit application, getting a monthly payment, and even negotiating the F&I products. The consumer will sit back and watch their bot do their work for them.
But if that future is in the cards, dealers will soon be overwhelmed by the influx of calls, emails and texts from these tireless AI agents. The dealer will have no choice but to stand up their own agent to handle their side of negotiations.
If this all plays out, what about the employees at the dealership?
Humans seem hardwired to be pessimists; it’s always been easier to be a doomsdayer and resist new transformational technologies. But history shows disruptive technologies do the opposite of destroying jobs; they automate tasks and shift labor, ultimately increasing total employment.
We should be optimistic about the future but start planning now to anticipate how this this change comes to automotive. We’re entering a new world, where the role of both buyer and seller will evolve, not only aided by, but potentially replaced by outsourcing the negotiation to AI-powered bots.
All of this does beg the question: what if the pendulum swings too far towards automation, and consumers end up craving human contact during the buying process? Will the dealership of the future be able to differentiate (or even charge a premium) to allow the customer to sit down across the table from a real human being?
Any way you look at it, our industry has an interesting future ahead.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is VINCUE.
VINCUE is the re-invention of Vehicle Lifecycle Management, built into a single cutting-edge platform, designed to supercharge profit and efficiency for retail automotive dealerships and groups.
VINCUE unifies every step of the inventory Plan, Buy, Manage, and Sell cycle to give dealers more market and performance data, more intelligent acquisition and merchandising tools, and greater visibility across stores and groups to make better buying and exit decisions for faster turn and higher front-end gross per copy.
VINCUE is built on top of powerful inventory and market data that intelligently activates inventory history and details, dealership sales performance, online buyer activity, auction and wholesale transactions, and market performance to present the definitive truth of the market at every moment.
This insight offers signals to operators making more informed decisions about what to buy, how much to pay, where to source, and how to attract most likely buyers. The net result is dealers who outperform the market in gross and turn.
If you’d like to learn more about VINCUE, you can check them out at: www.vincue.com
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our new Mobility Fund.
Don’t forget to check out my two books, The Future of Automotive Retail and The Future of Mobility, both available on Amazon.com.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!
