TRENDS IN USER EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF MOBILE ONLINE SERVICES
An expert interview with VWGIS colleagues Jonas Borrmann and Witold Laby
Together we talk about the new digital mobility, the We Connect services and the trends in the further development of Car2X.
Explain briefly: What is the range of tasks that make up the MOS department? What does your day-to-day work look like?
Jonas: Mobile Online Services means, quite simply, that you bring the vehicle online. This means that our customers can use various services when they are on the road in their cars. In the vehicle, for example, traffic information can be used online or the auxiliary heating can be turned on via an app. Our specific task is to keep the systems running.
Now we come to some key data: How big is your team? And what are the main focuses of your team?
Jonas: In Germany, we have a total of 64 employees in the MOS area. It is exciting that we also work strategically with VWDS in Portugal, which supports us with a total of 33 employees. This means that we have almost 100 people in the entire MOS area who, with their respective expertise, cover the entire value chain - from requirements engineering, development support and testing to the operation and service of the applications - and act as a strategic partner for CARIAD and Volkswagen IT.
Witold: In the ASM team, the main focus is on the overall responsibility of the applications that are used in the vehicle, among other things. An example of this is the web shop. This is something that can also be accessed directly in the car. This means that if you drive a current model, such as the Golf 8, you have the option of purchasing the mobile online services directly in the vehicle. The web shop can be accessed via the MMI. Roughly speaking, when a purchase is made, the request ends up with one of the responsible ASMs. This is one of the few points of contact where the IT operated in the vehicle can be experienced directly.
How does WeConnect communicate with the vehicle? Are there any new features in the communication with the customer?
Jonas: You have the vehicle and a communication unit (OCU) in it. This transmits data to a backend and the vehicle receives data back from the backend. The customer can then access the vehicle's data via an app or web portal and in some cases also control it directly, for example the auxiliary heating.
The whole topic of MOS is relatively old. In 2010, there were actually the first Google services in the vehicle, for example Google Earth for navigation. Things got really exciting from 2013 onwards, because the first remote services were available for the first time with the e-up! among others. This then developed steadily. In the beginning, for some services it was still necessary to open a hotspot with your mobile phone, so that the vehicle used the smartphone's own internet connection to transmit something. For a few years now, all vehicles have had an e-SIM installed so that they can be permanently online.
This is the biggest change and improvement for the customer!
In this context, can you also talk about the user experience trends for WeConnect?
Witold: The topic of Function on Demand (FOD) is of great interest to customers. Function on Demand means something like: Functions in the vehicle, e.g. Active Cruise Control (ACC), can be rented for a certain time. For example, for holidays or other special journeys. This works via the We Connect app, for example. It will also be interesting for customers who buy a used car. Here, the customer gains a huge added value through Function on Demand!
Can you give us a little glimpse into the future? How do you think mobile online services will develop?
Jonas: I don't think we can even imagine all the things that are still to come. We are still pretty much at the beginning in the development of MOS. We have vehicles that are now online and can read out data with their mobile phones. With Car2X, we see that vehicles communicate with each other and, to some extent, already with the infrastructure. In this context, it is also exciting to see how autonomous driving will develop. Because without MOS, autonomous driving will not work!
We would like to thank you both for this insightful and interesting interview and are excited to see what the MOS team will master in the future!