Car of the Future Seeks to Conquer the Hearts of Italian Millennials
While watching a science-fiction movie, have you ever been fascinated by cars that are able to drive themselves and imagined to be in them? This futuristic dream is very close to become reality, since the stated goal of many firms is to launch the first models of self-driving cars on the market as early as 2020.
This is likely to revolutionize not only the traditional way of moving around, but also the everyday life of many people. For example, disabled people will become more independent and self-reliant because of them.
Given the imminent launch of new automotive tech, a recent consumer survey polled Italian millennials, the most innovation-prone of generations, to discover the go & stop factors in facilitating or preventing its adoption, and suggest appropriate managerial responses.
The first finding is that young people are not yet ready to accept a completely autonomous car, because of their passion for driving and a certain mistrust toward this disruptive technology. However, the outlook is not entirely negative. In fact, there is a lot of curiosity both for the concept of partially autonomous vehicles, which enables automatic intervention in case of danger, and for the use of transport services provided with driverless cars. The interest derives from the usefulness for this new way of transportation, which promises greater practicality and guaranteed visibility for the user. Once again, social status proves to be an essential driver of consumer choice. There are two clusters of young people that are most attracted by this innovation, both sharing a lower propensity towards car driving. The first is fascinated by the benefits of not having to drive anymore, and relax or work during the journey, have more comfort on long trips, and not having to deal with the anxiety of parking. The other looks at the benefits in terms of road safety, as this group of people assumes that self-driving cars will reduce accidents caused by human error.
In order to attract millennials, communication strategies should therefore leverage these benefits and increase the perceived utility of driverless cars, by showing their high-safety record achieved in public road tests. The pricing scenario is a bit more complicated. It is estimated that autonomous driving technology will initially cause a price jump of $10,000 with respect to current automobile prices. This differential is incompatible with the willingness to pay of young people, who don't want to spend more than €4,000 for the self-driving option. Therefore, many corporations are considering alternatives to direct purchase, such as offering pay-per-use transport services.
Since the competitive arena includes companies coming from three different industries (hi-tech, automotive, and transportation), interviewees were asked about which brands and industries are capable of instilling more confidence. While car brands like Mercedes, BMW and Tesla dominate the ranking, the automotive sector and the digital industry get the same level of consumer preference. A co-branding strategy linking corporations operating in the two industries could therefore prove to be the real critical factor for success, as it communicates to the potential customer the presence of solid and asymmetric know-how in the development of self-driving cars.
In conclusion, it is undeniable that autonomous driving is an innovation that for millennials is still enveloped by an aura of mistrust. However, Italian young people are curious about self-driving cars, so that these psychological barriers are not insurmountable. For companies, the challenge is to persuade them to get acquainted with this extraordinary innovation that completely relies on digital technology.