User preferences and willingness to pay for in-vehicle assistance

As consumers’ demand for interconnectivity and infotainment grows continuously, car manufacturers face the challenge of developing more sophisticated, user appealing and economically viable in-vehicle infotainment assistants while staying within the boundaries of their limited resources. Based on the results extracted from an empirical study with 278 participants from Germany, this contribution supports car manufacturers to tackle this challenge by providing concrete guidance on optimal feature design, pricing, as well as initial market segmentation. Regarding the optimal feature design, we note that delivering continuously available and flawless systems with a speech input interface should be the top priority when developing such vehicular assistance. Further, we suggest that the in-vehicle infotainment assistants should be either reactive (i.e., react only to driver’s instruction) or independently proactive (i.e., exert full control without engaging the driver in decisions), but not semi-automatic (i.e., assistant issues recommendations and then follows the driver’s instructions).