Exploratory Ideation: Women's Mobility Needs

Approach

The approach was an open-ended ideation process to identify customer needs. First, we conducted exploratory interviews with 35 Ford employees to learn about women's transportation tasks, responsibilities, habits, and needs. Our questions aimed to identify pain points.

We sifted through these ideas using a Miro whiteboard and sticky notes, sorting them into categories, grouping by theme, and rating by degree of intensity. We also developed personas to represent pain points of distinct customer profiles. 

Once a set of problems was identified, we brainstormed solutions. Two product ideas emerged for further exploration:

A. Trunk as Delivery Locker – app-enabled delivery service to your vehicle

B. Chauffeur Service for children and/or older adults

These two ideas were presented in a second round of interviews to solicit feedback, most importantly, whether this was a solution that would be worth purchasing. We also did internet research to assess the novelty of these ideas, like whether similar products already existed.

Based on interview feedback and overall novelty, we selected Solution A: Trunk as Delivery Locker for further development into a prototype.

Results

The Trunk as Delivery Locker is an app feature added to the existing FordPass app that enables a vehicle’s trunk to be used as a secure location for goods delivery and pick up. Using the app, users can order items for delivery to their vehicle location anywhere it is parked (home, work, etc.).

It leverages existing technology on the vehicle in a novel way: the vehicle’s GPS antenna gives a precise lat/long location "address" for delivery services, while its  modem allows the owner to remotely lock/unlock the trunk with a smartphone app so that goods can be dropped off or picked up. This means there are no hardware barriers to initially rolling out the new app feature. Vehicle sensors (e.g. camera, radar, bluetooth) could also be used detect the delivery person and use a security protocol to lock/unlock the truck without the owner's involvement. 

Users save time spent on household errands by reducing number of trips to stores and don’t worry about goods being stolen. Seniors or people with disabilities who have a hard time shopping or loading goods can use this system in their vehicles.

Impact

Our team was recognized with the "Innovation of Tomorrow" Award and our novel app feature invention was submitted for for a patent.

This invention leverages connected vehicle technology to create a unique customer-facing service for vehicle owners to securely use their vehicle’s trunk to receive goods deliveries. There are no existing services using this system. It gives Ford a competitive advantage as the first OEM to offer vehicle-as-location delivery capability. It improves customer experience as the initial product idea was developed via the lens of women’s needs.

The system leverages existing technologies in a new way to enable new third party services for vehicle owners. Vehicle GPS data can be securely utilized by third-party delivery apps. The system is extensible to other use cases, e.g. vehicle maintenance services (e.g. window repair, fueling). It uses a low-cost Software as a Service (SaaS) business model requiring low initial software development investment and headcount to add  the feature to FordPass app. Partner companies provide delivery service fulfillment (e.g. Instacart, Amazon, UberEats).