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Smart cars? Plan B Studio’s Steve Price looks at how technology could save the automotive industry

By Steve Price

August 16, 2013 | 7 min read

New car sales in Europe are down once again, while America’s automotive heartland Detroit has filed for bankruptcy. But as Google readies its driverless car and BMW embraces electric, Plan B Studio’s Steve Price asks whether a technological revolution could breathe new life into the car industry.

New car sales in Europe have this year suffered their worst June since 1996, prompting many manufacturers to close production lines. US car sales, on the other hand, experienced their strongest June since 2007. Some are questioning however whether the thirst for gas-guzzling, muscle-machined cars has finally reached a plateau, particularly in America, where the New York Times recently declared ‘the end of car culture’. Being here and driving in and around Florida for a few weeks seems to counter this debate. I’ve seen more 4×4s, SUVs and pick-up trucks than imaginable, with most matching London buses for size. Gas (petrol) here is roughly half what we pay in the UK, and yet for Americans it’s almost double what they are used to paying. And despite record car sales, it’s not difficult to see how this spike in gas prices might be a contributing factor influencing consumer behaviour, alongside government austerity measures and global economic pressures. But these periods of feast or famine are not new to the US, or the UK. Not so long ago, it wasn’t finance and banking affecting consumer habits, it was the gold rush – a period which saw hundreds of thousands of people up sticks and migrate across the land in search of riches, transforming the American landscape and making barren the towns and cities it abandoned after raping them of their minerals. Not too dissimilar to our new era of social change. Arise a new social influencer, one I am dubbing the ‘d0rk-download’. Wherever the d0rk-download goes, so too does the money. Look at ‘Tech City’ or ‘Silicon Roundabout’, that shithole that once was (and still is) Old Street/Shoreditch/Dalston/Hackney, populated by designers and artists, transformed once again by start-ups and big brands such as Google and venture capitalists – the financial hawks, hovering above. History repeating itself? Indeed. An article by Jaclyn Trop in the New York Times (‘Detroit, Embracing New Auto Technologies, Seeks App Builders’) shone a light on the d0rk-download. It is migrating, leaving the Silicon Valley nest in search of new prospects, new ‘minerals’ to mine and reap; only this time the tools are less pick-axe, shovel, horse and wagon and more Wi-Fi connected, cloud-stored, remote-working laptop wielding workers. And where are these pioneers landing? Detroit. Or rather, Detroit has started to attract local talent with the promise of a new challenge: the automotive industry. This, along with cheap rent and remote working, is subsequently attracting those bored with the Valley. Here’s why I hope our d0rk-download might be great. We hired a new Nissan Rogue on a recent trip to Florida. To describe it as basic would be complimenting it. It had a CD player (which is useful in 2013) and the dashboard panel and console had more plastic than a child’s Christmas stocking. Even if it had satnav I’d rather pay for 4G and use Google Maps on my iPhone, and I’m still having to plug my iPod in via a phone cable to the auxiliary connector which seems to be connected to the engine alternator, meaning the volume increases or decreases according to the speed. This is not a feature but an annoying dysfunction. This is 2013, right? No wonder the automotive industry needed a bailout and its sales declined. Your smartphone probably costs $500, but compare that to its use and function and whether you could ‘live without it’ and it’s a small price to pay to be ‘connected’. A moderately good car will cost you $30,000- $60,000, and while car safety, engine and brake technology as well as performance has improved, what else do you get? Surely it is time that the basic functionality of the car starts to match the technology in your pocket? It was Trop’s article that reminded me of a pitch I worked on three years ago, a digital campaign planned for a US-based car manufacturer. During the process I was curious about the use of technology in cars. My interest then and now ultimately lay in the link between the driver and the car with technology and social data. There was talk of the BMW range and Audi including mobile Wi-Fi connectivity. Obviously car dashboards and interactive features have developed, but in three years not that much has changed. The idea we devised was based on creating an app that worked in direct communication with the car’s engine management system. The plethora of possibilities to further extend the intelligence and practical usage of both the vehicle, engine and (most importantly) its driver and occupants was really exciting. Alas, we were perhaps ahead of ourselves and the budget to create it, and after reading Trop’s article I was quietly satisfied that we were perhaps ahead of the game, in theory if not in practice. But aside from my own self-congratulatory pat on the back it made me wonder– regardless of whether sales are slowing, or have slowed, it seemed obvious to me three years ago that technology in cars was woefully out of date. For example, why is DAB radio still not properly available (I don’t own a car so it might be now)? Why can’t I just slot my smartphone into the car? Why don’t they sync up? Why does my friend, who just bought an almost brand new German-made car, have to load mp3s onto a tiny chip to load in to his car only to wait for minutes while they load? Why, oh why is the user interface of almost all satnav and in-car interactive menus so appalling? Why isn’t my car as smart as my phone, and vice versa? Better still, why aren’t they more intuitive, intelligent and refined?Perhaps this new wave of social influence, this new partnership of technologists and automotive designers, might spark the rebirth of once beleaguered cities like Detroit and simultaneously inspire real innovation that leads to less is more – fewer cars, but more smarter modes of transport inspired by a hybrid of automation and technology fuelled by intelligent design, craft and creation. Yet the car industry still doesn’t seem to be getting it, as evidenced by an Audi America representative quoted in the New York Times: “We want to keep the brand on the cutting edge through technological innovations like LED headlights and using social media as a communications tool.” LED lights and apps as comms tools? There’s your major mistake right there. The article goes on to discuss why making documentary style film adverts is a way forward. Really? No. Make adverts about how car manufacturers have made the need and use of a car more relevant to our lives by using the technology in our pockets. Clotaire Rapaille said: “The stronger the emotion, the more clearly an experience is learned.” So d0rkdownload, Detroit et al, car manufacturers – you want to impress Generation Y? To sell more cars? Don’t try to fool them or us with ‘documentary films’, free music, ‘collaborative’ based projects or LED lights. We’re not idiots. Invest heavily in the new d0rk-download arrivals. Make your product relevant to our lives again.This was originally published in the latest edition of The Drum magazine, which can be purchased from The Drum store.

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