A global exploration of what it would mean for your vehicle to be "intelligent"

The project partnered with Toyota's Connected Vehicle division, the project embarked on extensive research in Japan, the USA, Germany, and China. This foundational research sought to understand the user behaviors and perspectives, aiming to shape the future of intelligent, connected vehicles through the development of 'smart cockpit' technology. 

BACKGROUND

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The automotive landscape is currently in the midst of a profound transformation, with intelligence and connectivity playing pivotal roles in redefining our interactions with vehicles. Cars are no longer mere modes of transportation; they are metamorphosing into intelligent, interconnected spaces that are revolutionizing our relationship with mobility and the broader world. However, it's essential to recognize that this revolution is and will not unfold uniformly across the globe. The countries at the forefront of this transformation will likely not be the ones that have traditionally been thought of as the automotive leaders. For anyone who has spent time in countries such as China, Indonesia, India and many others know, it is in these countries going through rapid change, that one can catch a glimpse of how the future of mobility will look in this coming century. These nations, starting from a less entrenched usage and perception of cars, are shaping a new path forward for mobility, providing valuable insights into how this space will evolve.

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THE ASK

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The Connected Vehicle division had been tasked to develop a technology concept for a future ‘smart cockpit,’ that could demonstrate the medium-term possibilities for delivering intelligent vehicles to customers. Being one of the world's largest OEMs, their extensive global presence enabled them to recognize that a singular, one-size-fits-all concept would not be suitable for everyone. Internal uncertainty was high, and the company was in need of a deeper understanding of its global customer base.

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Working directly with their head of the Connected Vehicle team, their ask was:

• Gather a global view of how people perceive intelligence within their car.

• Understand current behaviors, patterns of use, pain points in today’s car usage, and identify opportunities for innovation.

• Identify the key opportunities and challenges in transitioning vehicles into intelligent, connected spaces.

• Develop user journey maps to capture the key usage personas identified.

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This project ask was not a trivial one; the client team was made up of entirely Japanese engineers who did not travel extensively for their work and were quite restricted in their understanding of car use around the world. Interestingly, until our team made the argument for it to be included, the study initially omitted fieldwork in China, the client’s second-largest market. In addition to this, the project presented a number of challenges for the team, including:

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• The company’s vehicle portfolio catered to a broad range of customer usages and for a spectrum of wealth profiles; we needed to collect meaningful and representative data for each.

• To meet internal client timelines, the research was conducted simultaneously across Japan, China, Germany, and the USA. This reduced the window for our usual practice of allowing learnings from one field work to feed into the refinement of the subsequent field work.

• The language requirements of this project presented a significant operational challenge; the client team operated in Japanese, the core project team operated in Mandarin, Japanese, and English, and the research required conduction in Japanese, English, German, and Mandarin.

• As a director of a research team in China, I had gotten complacent with the understanding that it was perfectly safe to have two female members of my team travel in pairs around China to conduct in-home interviews. This complacency was quickly highlighted in conversation with my US colleague when he brought up the contingency measures we’d have in place for the two of us (both male) conducting in-home interviews in downtown LA.

• Incentives for research participants can vary starkly across territories. In more open, car-mature markets such as the U.S., most participants, in exchange for a few hours of their time, are happy with a couple of hundred $ amazon vouchers. However, often in lower trust markets, China in this case, more substantial cash payments are required to incentivize participation. This required some fun back and forth with the client’s purchasing team.

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Fieldwork will consistently introduce unforeseeable challenges. The path to successfully executing a project and guaranteeing an outstanding deliverable is never clear. Nevertheless, we place our confidence in the reliability of our methods, drawing from our wealth of experience, and our adeptness at adapting to dynamic changes on the ground.

WHAT WE DID

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With the client team we identified four countries to run the research: Japan, USA, Germany, and China. Immediately we had to reach out to our network to ensure our research team could have local support upon their arrival in the target countries. Having local support not only helps improve logistics and the efficiency of travel for our researchers but can also support the building of meaningful, trusted relationships with participants. 

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To an onlooker, our role may seem confined to research, yet, in reality, we bridge the gap between on-the-ground dynamics and the client's organization. In this project, our team fluently navigated the lives, daily mobility, emerging technology, and business strategies of people across four countries. Our unique perspective stems from extensive global participant research and domain expertise cultivated through collaborations with numerous automotive companies.

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Throughout our research, distinct tensions emerged concerning the concept of a vehicle becoming 'intelligent,' triggering reactions that spanned from anger to excitement. Key points of contention included concerns about drivers being sidelined from the act of driving and vehicles developing personalities wishing to converse with their owners. These tensions were notably pronounced across markets, highlighting a clear divergence in perspectives among different user types and markets.

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It was crucial to move beyond speculative reactions and push to get deeper into the genuine pain points experienced by people in their daily interactions with their vehicles. As a team, we skillfully navigated these challenges, fostering meaningful conversations with participants to stay grounded in their lives, behaviors, and desires.

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The project included an inordinate amount of coordination – requiring the management of four research teams across four countries in four languages. The core team had just 4 weeks to conduct research in four countries and deliver meaningful foundational understanding of the target customers into the client’s product development cycle.

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