We taught an AI chatbot the job of a car dealership.

 

This concept builds on the combination of a voice-input smartphone car navigation app and a natural conversation chatbot introduced in " We created a talking ad that guides you . " Inspired by the idea of "guiding while talking," this led to the "AI Test Drive" we're introducing now.

The idea: What if we replaced the traditional dealership test drive experience, where a salesperson rides in the passenger seat, with an AI-powered test drive experience?

Specifically, it has an AI character perform the tasks involved in a test drive: "guiding the test drive route," "introducing the car's selling points," and "listening to the customer's daily car usage, needs for a new car, and impressions after the test drive."

The AI test drive aims to achieve three key objectives:

1. It reduces psychological barriers customers may have about test-driving with sales staff, such as "I don't want them to see how well or poorly I drive" or "I feel uneasy with someone else sitting next to me."
2. While customers are on test drives, freed-up sales staff can handle other tasks, such as appraising the customer's current vehicle.
3. Conversations between the AI and the customer during the test drive are converted into text data, enabling immediate use in sales discussions upon the customer's return to the dealership.

This solution benefits both customers and sales staff.

To realize AI test drives, we adopted " Kiku-Hana," an AI Japanese natural conversation platform developed by Dentsu Inc.

Its proprietary language processing system excels at syntactic and semantic analysis, enabling the creation of chatbots that grasp the intent and true meaning behind statements.

Additionally, because it conducts rule-based conversations, it avoids the "risk of missteps" associated with AI chatbots powered by deep learning. On the other hand, it struggles with flexible, improvisational dialogue not covered by its rules.

Based on Kiku-Hana, we designed a three-tiered "Customer Drive" (※) alongside the chatbot. Let's recreate that journey through conversations with the chatbot.

※Customer Drive = The customer journey experienced during a test drive, specifically the design of conversations with AI. This time, we designed it in three major stages.
 

Designing the customer experience from the start of the test drive to its conclusion—that is the customer drive. It enables customization tailored to each case, such as questions and suggestions aligned with the test drive course.

Customer Drive ①:
Designing the test drive experience to build strong customer relationships

*The following exchange is a dramatic reconstruction of the script design process and does not represent actual conversations between the chatbot and the team.

Team: First, we need to decide on the tone and manner of speech. We want people experiencing it to feel comfortable chatting, and if it sounds earnest or fresh, they'll probably listen even if we talk a lot. Maybe we should go with a boy's voice?

Chatbot: I'm thrilled you chose me! I might not know all the answers, but I'll study hard and do my best!

Team: Great! Chatbot-kun, nice to meet you! ...But thinking about people trying AI for the first time, they might be startled if you just start talking to them out of the blue.

Chatbot: If you give me a name and set things up, I can properly introduce myself! After the intro, should I just start the test drive?

Team: Yeah, that's a good idea. Oh, but before that, it'd be helpful if Chatbot-kun could explain things like how to start the engine or about seatbelts.

Chatbot: Got it! So we take the test drive after that. If you tell me the route beforehand, I can give directions too.

Team: We can leave that to the car navigation app, so just make sure to hand things over smoothly.

Chatbot: I see. Then once we're on the road, I'll say to the car navigation app, "Please handle the directions from here!"

Customer Drive ②:
Script Development to Skillfully Draw Out Customer Thoughts

Chatbot: What should I chat about after we start driving?

Team: Since the test drive is about experiencing the car's ride quality, let's have them talk about things like how acceleration feels on hills and straightaways, how easy it is to turn corners, and the suspension.

Chatbot: How about saying, "Up ahead is a gentle incline. Experience this car's powerful performance!" just before the hill?

Team: Great idea! But since we're at it, I'd also like to ask for their impressions after climbing the hill. Let's try practicing that.

Chatbot: "Did you feel the powerful ride on the hill?"

Team: Yes. ...Hmm, a closed-ended question like YES/NO makes it feel less like a conversation...

Chatbot: "How was the ride on the hill?"

Team:...

Chatbot:...

Team:...Oh, sorry, I was thinking about how to answer. Right, this question is too open-ended, so we'd probably just get answers like "It was okay."

Chatbot: How about saying, "When running uphill, did you find it easy? Please share your thoughts—like 'It was easy!'"?

Team: That's good! Then let's also try how to approach them after a curve? And after they answer, would it say "Thank you" or something?

Chatbot: Got it. I'll give it a try!
Chatbot: "Did you feel the wide field of view unique to this car, even on curves? Please share your thoughts like 'The wide view made me feel safe turning!'"

Team: "I felt like the left side was a bit hard to see."

Chatbot: "Thank you!"

Team:...Hearing "hard to see" and then that super enthusiastic response feels a bit off as a conversation, doesn't it? For negative feedback, could you respond like, "I see. Understood. I'll pass that along to the dealership staff"?

Chatbot: Got it!

Customer Drive ③:
Nurturing activities to help customers learn about the car

Team: Asking about ride comfort based on road conditions is good. Next, let's have them talk about the car's features.

Chatbot: Got it, you mean the sales pitch!

Team: How do you even know that term?! For example, fuel efficiency—I think everyone's interested in that.

Chatbot: Got it. For fuel efficiency, how about something like this?
Chatbot: "The dealership staff told me this car's fuel efficiency is 15 km per liter for the hybrid model!"

Team: That sounds good, but if it just starts talking like that, it might feel a bit abrupt and hard to follow. Like, a navigation voice usually has a little "ping" or something before it starts talking, right? Like a signal that it's about to speak?

Chatbot: Got it. Let me try that.
Chatbot: "Ta-da! Here's a fun fact! About that fuel efficiency you were curious about—the hybrid gets 25 km/L, and the gasoline model gets 15 km/L, according to the dealership staff!"

Team: Ta-da, right! That feels kinda engaging, it's good! Also, we want to set up a Q&A time toward the end of the test drive.

Chatbot: That's my specialty! Oh, these are the expected questions and answers, right?

Team: Let's test it out. "How much is this car?"

Chatbot: "How much" means they're asking about the price...
Chatbot: "It depends on the options and trim level, but hybrids start in the 3 million yen range, and gasoline models start from 2.5 million yen. For details, please ask the staff at the dealership!"

Team: Yeah, that's a perfect answer!

Chatbot: Glad I did well!

※As a reminder, these exchanges are dramatic reconstructions of the script design process and do not represent actual conversations between the chatbot and the team.

Creative Power is Essential for AI Solution Development

Now, this three-tiered "Customer Drive"

• enhances brand engagement (①),
• acquire customer information and behavior (②),
• and deepen customers' understanding of the brand (③).

In this sense, it can be seen as the very design of the customer journey itself. Or perhaps it could be likened to marketing automation executed within 20 to 30 minutes.

When people talk about "using AI for marketing," it often tends to fall into one of two categories: either tool-based solutions aiming for RPA (Robotic Process Automation)-style automation and operational efficiency, or initiatives that, for better or worse, primarily seek to generate buzz. What we aimed for this time was a solution that sits in the middle.

We aimed to "automate" the test drive process at car dealerships while adding a unique element that would spark "interest" in targets who previously avoided test drives. Furthermore, we sought to extract customer points of interest and gather information through a different approach than traditional test drives with sales staff present.

As we designed these elements into a single experiential solution, we became convinced of something: to soften the often perceived coldness of technology and to effectively cover areas where technology falls short, the "power of creativity" – including character design and scripting – is crucial.

The demand to solve various management challenges and goals through DX (Digital Transformation) and CX (Customer Experience) will only increase. In this context, finding the intersection between "technologies like AI" and "interesting, approachable elements" and designing experiences around this will likely be a major key to making solutions more readily accepted.