Ayuda

Getting you back on the road faster

Overview

Role:

Research, Concept & Design

Timeline:

2 Week Design Sprint

Breif:

This case study documents the process involved in the design of an app for independent contractors offering roadside assistance

Story

Over the holidays while my friend was away on vacation I volunteered to car-sit his SUV. Since he was gone for 2 weeks I needed to move his car from one side of the street to the other on multiple occasions. He has helped me out before with my car so I wanted to help him out. Except this time his car left me stranded in the middle of the highway during rush hour. The moment the car stopped randomly in the highway I messaged my friend explaining the situation. I was hoping this was something common that he knows how to work around. Maybe a trick that requires 5 gas petal pumps and a key turn combo or possibly a loose battery cable. It’s an old car so it could have been anything. He was in the west coast so he was still sleeping at 8 in the morning eastern time. I thought about getting out and pushing the car to the shoulder but it was way too dangerous. I had no choice but to call a tow truck. I waited for over an hour until the tow truck arrived. after being towed my friend finally replies and tells me that the gas gauge is broken and that he measures his gas based on miles driven. I was so upset! because the gas gauge read full tank. This is something i felt my friend should have disclosed to me. I could have called someone to bring me gas instead of paying $180 to get the car towed. At that moment is when I thought how great it would be if there was an Uber kinda of service for roadside assistance.

Research Summary

Competitor Designs:

Market:

According to Infoholic Research, the global connected roadside assistance solution market is estimated to grow from $1,180.6 million in 2019 to $2,716.6 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.9% during the forecast period. Although The Automobile Towing in the US industry has no companies with major market shares North America connected roadside assistance solution market is expected to witness dominance and is estimated to grow from $482.3 million in 2019 to $1,112.7 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 15% during the forecast period. With 1 in 3 calls originating from home there are new features on Amazon Alexa and Google Home that provide an innovative, convenient way for members to request service The automotive industry is witnessing the growing demand for vehicle connectivity, which has been encouraging automobile manufacturers to equip their vehicles with advanced connectivity solutions. Over the next decade, the technological advances in the connectivity are expected to provide real-time highway alerts and notifications to drivers and direct the vehicle toward least fuel consuming route based on traffic density. Therefore, the emergence of technologies such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication solutions, is expected to affect the growth of the vehicle roadside assistance market value during the forecast period. Furthermore, real-time notifications market is also expected to witness dominance and is estimated to grow from $185.8 million in 2019 to $436.5 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 15.3% during the forecast period

thanks to app-based services The expansion of roadside assistance network coverage has led to an increase in service supply, and have removed the stress and complexity of assistance on the road, A recent survey commissioned by Allstate Roadside Services found that among drivers who have experienced problems on the road, 47% felt overwhelmed and helpless, 62% admitted they became anxious, 52% got angry, and 36% said they were scared. A total of 40% said their first instinct was to immediately call a tow truck or roadside assistance service for help. AAA rescued a record-breaking 32 million drivers in 2015, with more battery, flat tire and key problems than ever before. Vehicles fewer than five years old in particular experienced a higher proportion of tire and key-related issues than older vehicles, suggesting that the trend toward eliminating the spare tire and moving to electronic keyless ignitions may have unintended consequences. in addition The market segment of battery assistance is expected to increase do to the growth in sales of hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Vehicles between 6 and 10 years old have the highest proportion of battery-related issues, as most batteries have a three- to five-year life.

Despite advances in key technology, AAA came to the rescue of more than 4M drivers locked out of their vehicles. Battery failures, flat tires and keys locked inside the vehicle remain the top roadside assistance requests. Drivers today have increasingly-connected lifestyles, and want reliable, flexible service options when trouble strikes, The key players of the market are Viking assistance group, AutoVantage, Best Roadside Service, Access Roadside Assistance, Paragon Motorclub, Roadside Masters, Viking Assistance Group AS, ARC Europe SA, and SO S International A / S, AAA among others.

Pain Points & Solutions

Pain Points:

Problem: Drivers are restricted to locally ran towing companies, credit card roadside services, membership only services, and insurance company assistance.
Problem: All of the top roadside apps aren’t very user conscious.
Problem: most customer complaints are about dealing with incompetent phone reps being middlemen between them and the towing service.
Problem: In any incident the wait time can be about the same when dealing with towing company and or affiliates.
Problem: By going through their insurance, a telecommunications company, or a credit card provider the driver at time has no choice but to go with who ever and which ever company is chosen for them.

Solutions:

Solution: Introduce a crowdsource roadside assistance service.
Solution: Implement a more fluid design and wearable integration.
Solution: Remove the middlemen and create a direct connection with the person helping .
Solution: By allowing people to register as helpers for all or some services response time would become much faster.
Solution: Give the user the ability to see and choose their helper.