10:25 am, November 6, 2024
Auto Trader has big plans for its latest AI offering, which it says is going to ‘revolutionise automotive retailing’.
Launched today (Nov 6), ‘Co-Driver’ is a suite of solutions for dealers which are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
It is hoped that the service will help to alleviate known pain points for dealers and drive improved retail performance by ‘harnessing Auto Trader’s unparalleled vehicle data and consumer insights’.
The release is the culmination of over a decade of investment and marks the first step in a multi-year plan to launch a whole stable of AI-powered tools which will give retailers direct access to Auto Trader’s wealth of data and insights.
The platform aims to place value on dealers’ time like never before, by significantly reducing the effort needed to create detailed and compelling listings. It is hoped that by using Co-Driver, the average time to craft a listing will go from around 28 minutes to just the click of a button.
The system is powered by ‘Auto Trader Intelligence’, which is underpinned by over 80 million cross platform visits 619 million combined search minutes every month, as well as around 1.6 million daily vehicle observations.
It has been developed by Auto Trader’s in-house team of over 400 data scientists and engineers, and bosses say it represents the ‘scale of Auto Trader’s data and technology capabilities’.
Commenting on the significance of Co-Driver, Auto Trader’s chief product officer, Karolina Edwards-Smajda, said: ‘As one of the UK’s largest technology companies, we’ve long recognised the huge potential AI has in making retailers’ operations more profitable and more efficient, and have been investing heavily in it for over a decade.
‘It already sits at the heart of many of our most powerful tools and solutions, but Co-Driver marks a massive leap forward in how AI can enhance retailing performance.
‘These initial solutions, as well as all future Co-Driver releases, will not only alleviate many of the challenges facing our partners today, but will help them deliver retailing excellence.’
The launch represents a major step forward for AI in the motor trade and is available to all retailers as of this month, but what do Auto Trader say are the best features of their new offering?
Smart Image Management
The first AI-powered feature of Co-Driver is ‘Smart Image Management’.
The offering utilises Auto Trader’s in-depth consumer data to instantly arrange vehicle images into the optimum sequence according to car buyer preferences.
Meanwhile, AI image recognition will automatically categorise them, as well as flag missing imagery, to ensure every advert is as eye-catching as possible to discerning buyers.
Auto Trader research shows that buyers spend almost twice as much time engaging with vehicles that have the greatest variety of images, and the more time a buyer spends engaging with an advert, the more likely they are to buy.
AI Generated Descriptions
While Smart Image Management is available to dealers from the get-go, they will have to be a bit more patient when it comes to AI Generated Descriptions.
The offering, which which enables retailers to showcase their vehicles quicker with highly engaging, and instantly generated descriptions, is set to become available in the early stages of 2025.
Key Selling Points
The third feature to be released in the initial wave of Co-Driver releases will be Key Selling Points, which uses the same powerful combination of AI driven Auto Trader Intelligence to automatically highlight the most distinctive characteristics and specifications of the car.
This will include those features unique to that specific model, derivative, and even individual car, that would make it more attractive to potential buyers.
To ensure all retailers can benefit from this revolutionary technology, the full range of Co-Driver’s features will be available as part of all used car and van advertising packages.
They’ll be accessible through Auto Trader Portal accounts, and for those retailers utilising Auto Trader’s powerful suite of API solutions, Auto Trader Connect, they can also be seamlessly integrated into their chosen systems through their third-party technology provider.
For more information, and to join beta testing for AI Generated Descriptions, retailers are encouraged to contact their account manager.
