The descriptive phrase applied by automaker Mercedes-Benz to describe their futuristic initiative to align cars and their owners together in a more personalized way is “predictive user experience.” According to the company’s announcement at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, “we’re working on a new generation of vehicles that truly serve as digital companions. They learn your habits, adapt to your choices, predict your moves, and interact with your social network.”
Cars today are already many times smarter than their predecessors of just a few years ago. However, the phrase “predictive user experience” implies a significant leap forward in innovation. Cars featuring predictive user experience would do more than simply offer new and advanced electronic features. Over time cars would actually learn
A Non-Automotive Example of Predictive User Experience
Many people are familiar with the internet radio service Pandora.Pandora is widely used with more than 70+ million users as of late 2013. Pandora serves as a non-automotive example that effectively illustrates the basic principle of predictive user experience.
Pandora listeners have the ability to interact with the system to register their likes and dislikes for various musical artists and selections in real time as they hear them. This interaction allows Pandora to learn the individualized musical tastes of each listener.Pandora can then offer up a personalized listening experience for each listener by playing more of what a listener likes, and even eliminate what they don’t like.
Based on listener confirmed musical
How Would Predictive User Experience Work in Cars?
Automobile manufacturers are only beginning to explore in corporating
According to Mercedes-Benz, “by taking into account the driver’s starting location, the weather, day of the week, time of day, and who’s in the car, the predictive system generates a set of options based on historical data. The driver could choose to accept these proposals which significantly reduce opportunities for distraction and frustration, and over time these proposals get better, more accurate, and more personalized.”
For example a driver who leaves home at the same time weekdays to drive to work or drop kids off at school on each occasion typically makes a number of repetitive actions. They open the garage door first and then start the car. They might allow a moment or two for the engine to warm up (depending on the weather), also set the cooling or heating system, and so on. Each of these basic actions could be reasonably anticipated by an automobile and performed automatically.
A passenger’s presence in the back seat, perhaps implying a school aged child, might prompt activation of an in-car video entertainment system. If the family pet routinely joins in the drive to school, access via the rear hatch may be the norm. The need to unlock and raise the hatch door could be predicted and occur in anticipation of loading the vehicle and preparing for departure.
Since the car has anticipated your destination based on past experience, the optimal suggested route determined from up-to-the-minute traffic reports might automatically be plotted and the driver is alerted. Some day fully autonomous driving cars might make navigation decisions with minimal driver intervention, except to perhaps decline or accept.
The implications of incorporating predictive user experience in automobiles are just beginning to take shape. It’s one of the more interesting areas of development for automobile manufacturers who are always pressing the boundaries of innovation to improve and favorably differentiate their products.
Author bio – Ron McCoy is a consultant and blogger who regularly writes on forward looking topics in the areas of business and technology. He specializes in topics related to the automobile industry for Mercedes-Benz of Littleton in Littleton, Colorado (Greater Denver area).
