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 this week.
Last week, we hosted the second Automotive Ventures “Future of Mobility” Conference at the Porsche Experience Center Atlanta. The theme was AI’s impact on Mobility.
Today’s segment will recap the top things I took away from the conference.
First, we covered three broad topics: GenAI, Autonomy, and Robotics. All three of these areas are being dramatically shaped by advances in AI.
Missy Cummings was one of our keynote speakers, and she helped us understand how Tesla is not likely to ever successfully commercialize Full Self Driving while they continue to have a camera/vision-only approach.
Amir Kolton from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) surprised the audience with both how quickly online search traffic was migrating to AI-powered bots, and with the information sources that AI Chat engines like ChatGPT prefer.
Jonathan Turpin from AIM Group (Marketplaces / Classifieds) helped us understand how the quality of LLM traffic continues to get dramatically better.
Martin Schwarzmann from OC&C Strategy Consultants helped the audience understand the magnitude that 3rd party automotive marketplaces may be disrupted by AI search, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma they face in their local markets.
Corey Lydstone from Car Genius AI helped us understand how automotive dealerships can best prepare for AI-powered traffic to their websites.
Michael Healy from LabyrinthAI helped us understand how we can accelerate robotics AI development using a human-centric approach.
Saeid Habibi from EECOMOBILITY helped us understand the paradigm-shift in how automakers are using AI to test EV batteries.
Danny Zaslavsky from VINCUE helped us understand how a dealer-facing software vendor can dramatically reimagine their business (and value provided) based on new AI technologies.
The big conference takeaway for me was that AI is equal-parts exciting and daunting, but it was generally acknowledged that all industries (whether white-collar or blue-collar) were on the cusp of dramatic changes over the next few years.
Attendees’ perspectives on AI were both challenged and stretched, and everyone walked away with new strategies for applying AI to their businesses.
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 PRZM.
PRZM offers an all-in-one tool for tow truck operators and insurers to rely on to maximize returns on vehicles that have been in an accident.
70% of total loss claims start at an impound yard. Working directly with the tower allows insurers to capture claim-critical data faster and shorten cycle times by selling directly from the impound lot.
PRZM allows insurers to seamlessly manage the towing lifecycle within one single software application.
They provide real-time visibility into status, and a trusted chain of custody of the vehicle.
Users can shorten cycle times and make better decisions with AI-driven claim information.
PRZM allows you to establish a clear audit trail from vehicle dispatch to release, and minimizes the clicks and calls it takes to have your drivers on the scene of the accident.
If you’d like to learn more about PRZM, you can check them out at www.goprzm.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 DealerFund.
Don’t forget to check out my two books, “The Future of Automotive Retail” and “The Future of Mobility”, both of which are 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!
