Product Feature to Increase Purchase Appeal of a Consumer Autonomous Car

You are a product manager on a team that builds self-driving cars for consumers to buy and own. Propose one feature that would make the car a more appealing purchase. It has to be a feature of the product itself: a discount, financing deal or other marketing offer does not count. Explain which buyers the feature is for, what problem it solves for them, why you picked it over the alternatives you considered and how you would tell whether it made the car more attractive to buy. ```hint Start from the reason to buy autonomy Ask what owning a car that drives itself lets a buyer do that an ordinary car does not, and what still keeps interested buyers from ordering one. Pick the buyer group for whom one of those answers matters most. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - How autonomous is the car: can it drive door to door with nobody watching the road, only on certain roads or in certain areas, or must a driver stay ready to take over at any moment? - What should "more attractive" mean here: persuading hesitant mainstream buyers to purchase a self-driving car at all, or winning buyers who are comparing it with a rival model? - Are we the carmaker, free to change the cabin and hardware, or do we supply only the self-driving system and its software? - Which market does the car launch in first, given that rules for privately owned driverless cars differ from place to place? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Settling the autonomy level and what "more attractive" means, then choosing one buyer segment for a reason tied to how people decide to buy a car. - That segment's unmet needs or purchase barriers, and why an ordinary car with driver-assist features or a robotaxi ride does not already meet them. - Several candidate features that are genuine product features rather than offers, compared on purchase impact, feasibility, safety and regulation, ending in one choice with a scoped first version. - Metrics that connect the feature to purchases despite long buying cycles, with guardrails for safety and comfort. - Risks specific to an autonomous car, such as requests to take back control, crash protection, motion sickness, local law and added cost. ### Follow-up Questions - Car programs take years and people buy cars rarely. How would you find out whether the feature changes purchase decisions before the car reaches showrooms? - Suppose research shows that most hesitant buyers simply do not trust the car to drive itself safely. How would that change your choice? - Should the feature come standard or as a paid option package, and how would that decision change what you measure?