Brad Burns, associate vice president of vehicle information for Manheim at Cox Automotive, and Fyusion chief product officer and co-founder Stephen Miller joined the Auto Remarketing Podcast from Used Car Week 2022 in San Diego last month.
They talk about their presentation on "Demystifying AI for the Wholesale Industry," the uses of artificial intelligence in remarketing, misconceptions about AI and what might be on the horizon.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
And stay tuned for more coverage from Used Car Week 2022.
Perhaps 2022 is just the year of the acquisition — from auctions to artificial intelligence software providers to dealerships.
The latest move arrived on Tuesday, as Impel, a provider of digital automotive engagement software and data, announced that it is acquiring CarLabs.ai, a U.S.-based provider of conversational AI products for the automotive industry.
Impel highlighted that CarLabs digital assistants are used by OEMs and dealers to drive greater engagement across the customer lifecycle.
According to a news release, the acquisition brings additional product capabilities and resources to Impel and builds on the company’s acquisition of Pulsar AI completed last May.
Founded in 2016, CarLabs provides artificial intelligence products that can enable automotive retailers and OEMs to engage customers with automated, contextual two-way conversations that drive greater sales and service revenue.
The company’s solutions are designed to optimize content delivery and business performance by leveraging machine learning and advanced statistical models based on more than five years of serving international OEMs and enterprise dealer groups.
Carolina Coral Ayala Garcia is senior digital specialist at KIA Motors Mexico.
“For the past several years, Kia has made significant investments in digital capabilities designed to deliver an enhanced experience along the entire shopper journey,” Coral Ayala Garcia said in the news release.
“We’ve been fortunate to work with innovative technology companies like CarLabs that have enabled our digital transformation,” she continued. “They have been an indispensable partner, providing us with leading-edge AI capabilities that have helped us engage and educate consumers while at the same time strengthening our brand in an increasingly digital-driven world.”
Impel said the CarLabs acquisition comes at a time when service revenue and customer loyalty has become more critical than ever to dealer profitability.
“We’re thrilled to welcome CarLabs to the Impel family, and we look forward to integrating their innovative technology capabilities to generate even greater levels of digital engagement and business results for OEMs and vehicle retailers of all types,” Impel co-founder and CEO Devin Daly said in the news release. “This acquisition will accelerate our product development and innovation efforts to meet the growing need for exceptional end-to-end omnichannel experiences across the entire customer lifecycle.”
By continuously mining vehicle purchase data and service records, the company’s AI-powered solutions are geared to unlock new profit opportunities for dealers by engaging customers with highly relevant service messages and reminders at precise moments of the ownership lifecycle.
The addition of CarLabs technology and API integrations to Impel’s Service AI offering will create a complete solution for automated service drive communications, according to the companies.
“Impel is the preeminent digital engagement provider in the industry with thousands of satisfied customers around the world. We share a passion for creating seamless omnichannel journeys that deliver customer delight while driving increased business results and efficiencies at scale,” CarLabs co-founder and CEO Martin Schmitt said. “Automotive is ripe for intelligent automation, and together with Impel we’ll be able to accelerate efforts to deliver AI-powered applications that transform the experience for customers and dealers alike.”
Impel co-founder and chief strategy officer Michael Quigley added, “As the world’s foremost automotive digital engagement company, ongoing innovation and continuous growth are a key driver of our success. We are always on the lookout for leading-edge companies and emerging technologies to accelerate our efforts, and we couldn’t be more excited about the additional capabilities that CarLabs brings to our organization and to our technology platform.”
As previously reported in Auto Remarketing, there were more than 52,000 reports of stolen catalytic converters in 2021, which was a 13-fold increase from 2019, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).
ACV is looking to help dealers have more confidence that their next piece of inventory hasn’t been impacted by criminals with its latest advancement in artificial intelligence and a solution that detects “with extremely high accuracy” the presence of catalytic converters.
ACV’s Virtual Lift can provide dealers with a “clear and accurate” view of the vehicle’s undercarriage, ensuring an unobscured view of the exhaust system. The company’s machine learning capability now offers an added layer of confidence to the buying process with detection algorithms that confirm the presence or absence of catalytic converters within the Virtual Lift imagery.
ACV, NICB and other officials explained that a catalytic converter is an essential vehicle part that is often stolen for its valuable metals including rhodium, palladium and platinum. Unknowingly acquiring a used vehicle without a catalytic converter can cost the dealer up to $2,000 per instance.
ACV’s AI technology is a value-added tool for dealers to protect themselves against a national spike in catalytic converter thefts.
“As a trusted partner, our dealers rely on ACV to leverage our experienced team of over 800 inspectors armed with our proprietary technology and data capabilities to enhance our vehicle inspections and bring the best and most accurate data possible into our marketplace,” ACV chief operating officer Vikas Mehta said in a news release.
“With margin pressure on trades and resales coming from all directions, it is critical that every aspect of the vehicle’s condition is accurately and completely depicted so that dealers can maximize their profits,” Mehta continued
ACV pointed out that rising market values for the metals, paired with the relative ease with which a vehicle’s catalytic converter can be removed, have led several state legislative bodies to approve legislation aimed directly at combating and preventing this increasingly common crime.
A federal measure also is in the works, too.
“With the mission of providing exceptional trust and transparency to its dealer partners, ACV continues to invest heavily in technologies that provide the highest integrity inspections and condition reports for the marketplace,” the company said.
“Even more important in the world of digital-only transactions, ACV’s Virtual Lift machine learning capabilities, along with the machine learning models being used to train ACV’s library of patented and proprietary Audio Motor Profile (AMP) recordings, continue to set the gold standard in accurately capturing vehicle condition while solving industry challenges and protecting dealer partners,” the company went on to say.
CT Services and Claim Genius recently announced a strategic partnership to develop and market new artificial intelligence-based inspection solutions for the automotive remarketing and transportation markets within North America.
The companies highlighted in a news release that the partnership will combine CT Services’ vehicle inspection process with Claim Genius’s AI inspection technology to create new digital service model solutions for OEMs, remarketers, fleets, auctions and dealers.
Both parties expect to begin jointly marketing new products during the fourth quarter, according to the announcement.
Claim Genius’ AI-based inspection platform can allow customers to assess the physical condition of a vehicle though uploaded videos and photos, including identification and classification of damage on over 200 parts, automated prediction of vehicle repairability and line-by-line calculation of repair costs.
Customers also can use Claim Genius technology for lease and rental inspections, pre/post transportation inspections, insurance underwriting and claims, and more.
Claim Genius said its solutions are available via mobile, web, or API access in multiple languages today.
“Since our founding in 1988, CT Services has been committed to implementing service innovations and helping our customers drive new efficiencies into their inspection/logistics processes,” said Bob Gapinski, vice president of business development of CT Services. “We are very excited to collaborate with Claim Genius to help reinvent the future of automotive inspections.”
Mike MacDonald is chief operating officer and head of product development for Claim Genius.
“CT Services is highly recognized as a long-standing leader in developing industry leading vehicle inspection solutions in North America,” MacDonald said. “Their expertise and deep market knowledge coupled with Claim Genius technology will help us design some amazing products together to transform the inspection process for OEMs, finance institutions, rental car companies, auctions and the entire remarking industry.”
Security cameras now can be used for much more than just maintaining a view of your inventory and the showroom’s front door.
Sud Bhatija, who is one of the founders of Spot AI, which is striving to make visual data instantly useful and accessible to everyone, appeared on the Auto Remarketing Podcast to detail how security cameras and artificial intelligence are combining to help dealerships improve sales and service.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
Manheim announced Monday that it is launching mobile imaging capabilities powered by Fyusion — a company in the computer vision and vehicle imaging solutions space that parent company Cox Automotive acquired in early 2021 — at all of its auction locations.
The company has also installed an AI-driven fixed imaging gantry at its Manheim Minneapolis auction.
Through the mobile imaging and the fixed imaging gantry — both powered by Fyusion — Manheim will be able to capture millions of vehicle images and utilize automated damage detection, the company said in a news release.
These inside-the-auction-gate capabilities can help drive AI-enhanced condition reports and augment Manheim’s digital offerings, something that’s vital as wholesale turns further towards digital.
“As more cars than ever are sold digitally, Manheim and Fyusion are working to give dealers and commercial clients the utmost confidence in digital wholesale buying and selling,” said Zach Hallowell, senior vice president of Manheim Digital, in a news release.
“With our clients requiring more vehicle information and advanced imaging, we put our combined expertise to work to deliver the most consistent and trustworthy vehicle condition information in the industry and make viewing a vehicle online as good as standing next to the car.”
In addition to the fixed and mobile imaging capabilities designed to help customers make more informed wholesale decisions, Manheim said these images and those captured by the Manheim Express will be added to the Fyusion automated damage detection algorithm.
The auction company “takes millions of proprietary vehicle images each year and has captured well over a million 360-degree captures in Fyusion’s patented .fyuse format. This massive data supply is what drives Fyusion’s damage detection efforts and will ultimately result in clients getting the industry’s most consistent and accurate vehicle condition information.”
Radu Rusu, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fyusion, said in the release: “Fyusion’s technology, with over 80 issued patents, combined with our methodical, collaborative approach has laid a strong foundation to deliver the industry’s most advanced automated damage detection capabilities. This technology will give Manheim clients the utmost accuracy on damages — as well as the consistency they crave.”
Cyrus could be the newest teammate at your dealership who is willing to work literally at any time of day or night.
DealerOn and Pypestream announced a strategic partnership on Monday with the result being the firms bringing to market what they called an “immediate breakthrough.” DealerOn and Pypestream are delivering what they believe to be the first true conversational artificial intelligence solution, which has been dubbed Cyrus: Digital Assistant.
With Cyrus’ pre-built conversation designs, AI training data and intuitive user interface, DealerOn said through a news release that its customers can take advantage of this partnership with a solution native to their platform and developed for automotive dealers.
The digital marketing technology provider for manufacturers and dealerships mentioned the release of Cyrus for non-DealerOn website providers is coming soon.
“With Pypestream we are delivering on the promise of deploying real AI into the auto industry. Some of the largest brands in the world depend on Pypestream to power desirable self-service, thereby minimizing the need for expensive agent-assisted service,” DealerOn chief executive officer Ali Amirrezvani said in the news release.
“The release of Cyrus marks just the beginning of what this partnership has in store, and I believe that together we are raising the bar for what ‘chat’ in this space should be,” Amirrezvani continued.
DealerOn and Pypestream cited Google research that shows now more than ever, automotive consumers want a frictionless experience that eliminates barriers and demand a user-friendly and intuitive solution that is available no matter the time of day.
“Pypestream is thrilled to partner with DealerOn, the company that has set a high standard for digital marketing technology in the retail automotive industry,” said Richard Smullen, chief executive officer of Pypestream, which is a self-service automation platform with all-in-one cloud messaging and conversational AI.
“Our joint mission is to power desirable self-service for car buyers, and thereby deliver great business benefits to dealerships,” Smullen added.
Bill Wittenmyer, who started as DealerOn’s chief sales officer last month, shared these perspectives stemming from 25 years of industry experience.
“Fragmented bits of information coming to the dealer’s CRM is a big problem for anyone who lives and dies by the data,” Wittenmyer said. “Chat tools have always been one of the biggest offenders of this.
“With Cyrus, the entire transcript is pushed to the CRM, so you never have to wonder what was said or wasn’t, and the need to login to yet another system goes away,” he went on to say.
To learn more about DealerOn’s partnership with Pypestream, visit this website.
Proactive Dealer Solutions has released its Brook.ai tool, a conversational digital voice assistant for dealer service departments that works to handle and appoint inbound service calls for dealers.
Proactive Dealer Solutions — a provider of effective lead management and conversion services for the auto and motorized vehicle dealership sector — said Brooke.ai is an intelligent conversational digital voice assistant (DVA) for the retail automotive industry that works to deliver call connectivity, sets service appointments in an average of three minutes, and answers routine dealership questions.
Proactive said the tool can help free up dealer service staff to focus on in-person customers, as well as make sure all potential revenue from incoming calls is taken advantage of.
"Brooke.ai has the proven capability to answer every call and provide high-level discourse in a consistently helpful and professional way," Proactive Dealer Solutions chief operating officer Jason Beckett said in a news release. "This is a game-changer for our industry since we know on average 30% of inbound phone calls to service departments never connect. They are abandoned on hold, misrouted, or lost. That results in tens of thousands in lost revenue. Brooke.ai ensures every call is answered and handled, including non-appointable request calls for things like service hours that eat up employee time."
Here's more on how the tool works: Brooke.ai integrates with a service department's online scheduling tool and a dealership's dealer management system (DMS) to deliver a "personal experience" to callers.
The DVA has the following capabilities:
- Accesses returning customer information
- Identifies the vehicle
- Asks for a preferred appointment time
- Confirms the appointment
And if calls are not appointable by the DVA, they are then transferred to the correct person in the dealership. Calls that are not appointable are quickly transferred to the correct person in the store. And Brooke.ai is availabe to customers 24 hours a day.
"In our industry, you hear the saying: the two-legged expense is the greatest expense," Proactive Dealer Solutions founder and chief executive officer Lawson Owen said. "Brooke.ai never complains, calls in sick, or earns bonuses on appointment shows. A DVA is an affordable solution that makes calling a service department a great experience while allowing dealers to reduce staff for bottom-line savings or reallocate resources for proactive growth."
Although Brook.ai is a standalone solution, it will be closely tied to Proactive Dealer Solutions’ CallerCX platform, which monitors, evaluates and scores inbound sales and services calls to coach staff on how to better handle calls and to notify managers of mishandled opportunities.
KAR Global on Tuesday announced a strategic investment in and North American commercial partnership with Ravin AI, saying that the partnership boosts its data-driven digital capabilities.
Ravin AI is an international provider of automated, mobile and CCTV-based artificial intelligence services for vehicle inspections serving worldwide fleet, insurance and remarketing customers.
KAR said that for its customers, the partnership will also enable the flow of inspection information, data and images throughout the entire remarketing lifecycle.
Ravin currently supports some of KAR’s North American commercial customers. The companies plan to accelerate product development and to expand the use and adoption of Ravin’s technology.
The inclusion of Ravin in KAR’s portfolio adds mobile-based artificial intelligence capabilities for damage detection and vehicle representation through a self-inspect or company-inspect model.
This flexibility and interoperability with customer and third-party systems allows application of Ravin’s technology across the remarketing sector and the automotive industry overall.
Data-rich tools for end-of-lease processing, pre-auction inspections, dealer aftersales, fleet maintenance and condition monitoring are among the key applications.
KAR president Peter Kelly said advanced, integrated inspection capabilities are important to KAR customers’ success in the new digital age.
“Ravin AI has developed the most powerful and progressive computer vision, deep learning, and self-inspection solutions on the market,” Kelly said in a news release.
Kelly also said, “These tools will accelerate and enhance the vehicle inspection process, helping our customers make smarter, more informed selling and buying decisions and achieve better outcomes. We look forward to working alongside Ravin to advance the next generation of inspection technology and extend our leadership position in digital marketplaces.”
KAR led Ravin’s Round A financing. Ravin’s existing investors, FM Capital and PICO Venture Partners, also participated in this round. Shell Ventures, the investment arm of Royal Dutch Shell, and individual investors such as General Motors' former chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, were other investors in the company.
Ravin AI co-founder and chief executive officer, Eliron Ekstein said the company was pleased to be part of KAR’s digital strategy.
“And we look forward to empowering their North American commercial, financial, fleet, rental and dealer customers with our innovative inspection solutions,” Ekstein said. “Digital marketplaces require trust, ease and highly integrated systems to help all participants succeed — all foundational elements of KAR’s platforms today. Together, we will make the inspection process easier, faster and more connected for everyone.”
The past four years have been quite productive for LotLinx with its dealer clients reaping the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI).
The company said on Tuesday that its automotive shopper targeting technology has reached an all-time high in regard to quality of engagement seen from traffic delivered to the dealer site via its vehicle ads.
Lotlinx went on to say its traffic quality has doubled so far in 2020 versus 2016 measurements.
“Think of our AI as a musical conductor — treating each ad channel as an instrument, giving each vehicle its own symphony. We optimize for quality by targeting individual shoppers based on demonstrated purchase intent, not channels,” LotLinx general manager of product and technology Lance Schafer said in a news release.
“While popular sources like Facebook and Google often do provide the best traffic for dealer inventory, we also convert high-quality shoppers from other channels with less name recognition just as often,” Schafer continued.
“In other words, the cymbal matters as much as the bass drum,” he added.
Tuesday’s announcement marks another significant milestone for LotLinx, which recently earned two additional product Automotive Website Awards (AWA) and will be exhibiting at Booth No. 3394C at the upcoming NADA convention.
The LotLinx platform currently helps improve inventory turn and profitability for dealers like Smart Motors Toyota, Fremont Motor Company and Florida Fine Cars.
For more information, download the newest white paper from LotLinx that’s available here.
