In line with our DNA, CACF is innovating at the Digital Division with the first Green prototype based on Artificial Intelligence, in the form of a co-pilot for our Agilauto automotive advisors
When ChatGPT burst onto the market in 2023 it upset our habits and quickly found a choice spot in our lives and our uses.
"So why not put this technological revolution to work to boost business at Sofinco?"
This was the challenge kicked off in January 2023 by Benoit de Lestrange, Deputy Director for Digital Services France at CACF and sponsor for Generative AI, and addressed to all of his co-workers.
From this in-house challenge, of some thirty proposals received, six ideas were retained including "AI serving Agilauto". This use means that the power of generative AI can be made available to select and highlight the advantages of the Agilauto catalogue of vehicles in stock:
- Using Green recommendations (ones that encourage the energy transition)- The Group's first Green AI application.
- Through hyper-customised recommendations (addressing a limitless panel of user uses)
- With Agilius, the automotive sales conversational expert co-pilot.
This prototype uses AI to optimise the sales process, leaving the OpenAI engine produce the complex links between customer needs and the thousands of models of vehicles that we have to offer, whether they need to replace their current model or find the vehicle that matches their lifestyle habits or the specialist constraints of professional vehicle use.
One customer explains that she surfs while her husband uses a wheelchair. AI will understand the need to propose vehicles with enough space for surfboards and that have sliding doors of a certain width to allow wheelchair access.
Connected to the Agilauto fleet inventory, it will deduce the complex links required to offer an accurate answer for all of our customers by comparing technical data between a number of available vehicles and by cross-referencing this information with customer use.
Under the hood, the prototype uses an OpenAI engine in the Microsoft Azure Cloud environment in line with the Group's standard framework, with a front end hosted by AWS in line with LandingZone CAGIP principles. Without generative AI, this POC produced with 15 person days of development work would have cost hundreds of thousands of euros for the first use and would have been simply impossible to use for its next two uses.
The pilot phase for this co-pilot for Agilauto e-Sellers starts at the beginning of this year with great prospects as to what this technology brings to the sales approach to our prospects.
The objectives are multiple ones: facilitating the energy transition, satisfying customers who drive away with the right vehicle for their needs and it enhances the sales power of our Agilauto e-Sellers.
