Adaptive Cruise Control: An Industry Outlook on Product Features and Marketing

摘要

An interview method was employed to determine the auto industry outlook onadaptive cruise control (ACC), with special emphasis on the likely profile of the U.S. market. Both supplier and OEM companies were questioned on their expectations for product feature requirements, preferred technologies, institutional issues, management strategy, and marketing. The report presents the 'data' received through interviews together with evaluation of results based upon marketing analogues and the University of Michigan's own experience in ACC research. Results show a substantial industry consensus exists on a number of product features, and yet divergent views prevail on other items. It is clear that ACC will be marketed on luxury cars first, that most products will employ radar as the range sensor, that the driver will have a means to adjust headway time, and that common entry prices will be on the order of $1000, although different feature sets may cause the price to vary considerably. The major source of technical uncertainty is in the ranging sensor, although uncertainties, also exist in terms of functional features that will minimize liability risk and yet give suitable utility for the customer.