AI product experts offer one-to-one service at unlimited scale

Vehicle manufacturers are harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) across a wide range of applications, both in and out of the vehicle. At Kia Motors America, machine learning is taking customer assistance to a whole new level. Shoppers can now interact with the chatbot Kian via the Kia Facebook Messenger page. Kian can answer questions about model specifications, pricing, financing, special offers, etc. Type in the request: ‘Show me an SUV that gets at least 25mpg in the city’ or a question such as ‘What Kia vehicles seat seven people?’ and Kian will provide immediate feedback. Most importantly, he learns as he goes along. “As more shoppers use the system, it learns to anticipate questions, provides more specific answers and gets smarter over time,” explained Martin Schmitt, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of CarLabs, the specialist that worked with Kia in developing the technology. “Having access to that level of shopper data is a powerful tool for understanding and serving customers better than previously possible.” Kian is a follow-up to the model-specific NiroBot, an earlier experimentation around the use of AI to create digital product experts. NiroBot launched in November 2016 as a digital expert on the Kia Niro model. In just one year it racked up more than 875,000 engagements from more than 33,000 consumers. With Kian, the expertise goes beyond the single model to cover the entire range. Compared to the average live assistant, Kian offers greater depth of knowledge, instantaneously. The system harnesses tools that understand, can respond to natural language and is linked to a comprehensive automotive database. It features an analytics engine that optimises the experience based on user input and data. Using a platform from CarLabs, it can answer questions contextually in a conversation. Most importantly, perhaps, Kian offers the sort of scale that an individual assistant simply cannot. As Kia’s Nathalie Choy, National Manager - Digital, Social & CRM, explained: “Digital assistants allow brands to have conversations with their consumers on a one-to-one basis but at unlimited scale.” Kian began offering his expertise to shoppers as of 15 November. “In the first two weeks we have seen some promising results,” Choy told Automotive World. “The average engagement time is slightly over two minutes. Compared to something like watching a 30-second video or clicking on a banner, this is a highly desired engagement metric.” Notably, 43% of users click into a key performance indicator such as looking up a dealer or inventory or requesting a quote. “These are things that could turn into a sale,” she emphasised. Kian is initially available only via Facebook Messenger, but Kia intends to bring him to its corporate website in the coming weeks. The service won’t necessarily be for everyone but Kian never hides the fact that it is a bot-based service. “We need to be open and honest that we are a bot and still learning. Machine learning takes time to amass all of the data, but that means it improves over time,” Choy added. For those early instances where Kian does not know the answer, consumers will be offered to opportunity to chat live with a representative or leave a message. This is just one of the many applications Kia is investigating for AI and Big Data, which Choy believes can help create more personalised experiences. The company’s connected car team is currently investigating the potential for digital assistants in the vehicle. If an AI-based assistant like Kian can advise shoppers on model specifications and dealer inventory, he could also advise drivers on restaurant availability or preferable navigation routes. “We have a team that has been investigating this for some time," Choy confirmed. "The technology is already there – it is a matter of determining the cost implications for factoring in this functionality as part of the telematics system. In general, we are really excited about the future prospect of better serve our consumers through these emerging technologies.”

AI product experts offer one-to-one service at unlimited scale

Kia is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer consumers personalised expertise without pressure. By Megan Lampinen

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