Panasonic & Ford Developed Automated Kiosk To Simplify Service Visits

Mar 16, 2017 07:17 AM EDT | Joyce Vega

In a world that marches towards autonomous everything, Ford partnered with Panasonic and GoMoto, to create the Smart Service Kiosks. The Kiosks allow the customers to drop off and pick up their vehicles from the dealership at any time with the click of a button.

As reported by Motor Trend, the Smart Service Kiosk was first launched at a Ford dealership in Michigan this January. After 90 days of testing, Ford considers expanding the service to other dealerships. So how does it work?

According to Engadget, the customer needs to enter their contact information into the outdoor kiosk by using the touchscreen and scanning their driver’s license. After that, they input certain key vehicle information and create a security PIN for key pick-up. The customers can also request basic maintenance tasks like alignment, oil changes, and inspections among other things. They also have the option to enter more details about their service needs so technicians have a better understanding what the customers are looking for. Once that’s done, the users drop off their keys and pick up keys for a loaner car.

Once the dealership has completed the service requested, users will get an email alert. That email contains a QR code that customers will need to scan at the kiosk in order to pick up their keys. And with the PIN they created earlier, they can pay for the service and pick up their keys any time of the day.

As reported by Yahoo News, Ford’s goal is to make customers lives better through their products and services. The Smart Service Kiosk enables the customers to drop-off, pick-up and pay for their vehicle service on their time, whether it’s outside of dealership service hours, or to avoid waiting in a line if the service staff is busy. At first glance, dealers may be concerned that with this service their ability to interact with the customers and sell or lease new vehicles could be obstructed. But according to Ford, with services like this, they will remove a common pain point for owners and it could actually improve business, as their loyalty to dealer service would be enhanced by the experimental system.

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?

© 2024 Auto World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Get the Most Popular Autoworld Stories in a Weekly Newsletter

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics