Experiences Per Mile - How You Feel Driving From Here To There

What people are increasingly concerned with when it comes to their vehicles: not miles per gallon and horsepower, but the types of “experiences” that they’ll have. (Image: EPM Advisory Council)

It’s Not a Car: It’s an Experience

By GARY S. VASILASH
Transportation Editor
Gardner Business Media

July 21, 2022; “Where consumers once asked ‘how fast will can I go from 0 to 60?’, they now want to know ‘how can this vehicle improve my commute’, or ‘can I access the content/info/people important to me during my time in the car?’ And, as the electrification and autonomous trends advance, it makes sense that the focus on experiences in the vehicle as opposed to what powers it will grow.”

That’s Tom Rivers, vice president, Global Automotive Marketing, HARMAN on “the Automotive EPM Index,” a metric that has been devised to allow consumers to assess a vehicle based on their “experience goals.”

EPM = Experiences Per Mile

Rivers, a founding member of the EPM Advisory Council—which has members from companies including GM, HERE Technologies, Hyundai, and Stellantis—explains, “There has been no established rating to measure the in-vehicle experience, so this way of thinking about experiences as a true value-add is new territory.”

Rivers says that the OEM members of the council are bullish on the EPM Index: “they see value in this measurement to help build their brand with new generations of consumers. . . .[T]he OEMs fully realize the need to shift emphasis from individual features and functions to more holistic experiences in order to meet their customers where they are and give them what they demand from their vehicles.”

Said another way: 0 to 60 is less important than the number of USB ports and the dimensions of the screens.

Official October 2019 Press Release Announcement: HARMAN created Experiences Per Mile Advisory Council

October 2, 2019; As consumers continue to explore new ways to connect to their world, both in and outside their vehicles, it’s no surprise that the way consumers measure a car’s worth is moving away from dynamic performance. Even today, many buyers pay more attention to how many new connected experiences are possible with the technology available in their new car, rather than the engine’s horsepower, cornering abilities, or even the brand name. As the shift from RPM to EPM continues to grow, the automotive industry must find new ways to adapt to this change, or risk being left behind. The most innovative companies, able to provide the most exhilarating experiences, will benefit by winning the hearts and wallets of the next generation of consumers moving about in the transportation ecosystem.

HARMAN is joining forces with SBD Automotive to create the Experiences Per Mile Advisory Council, both of which will host the first meeting. Designed to encourage collaboration among an exclusive group of automotive and technology executives, analysts and industry insiders, the council aims to solve the complex issues facing the industry both today and tomorrow. The group will also form industry-wide processes on the value of in-vehicle consumer experiences, for key stakeholders such as OEMs, shared mobility companies, application providers and more.

Activity will center on private meetings, which will take place every six months for two years. These meetings will include interactive roundtable discussions to encourage an open dialogue about what could be achieved and accomplished by creating such a program.

Thought leadership will be the number one goal for this program—not sales—and each participant will walk away with a better understanding of where the automotive industry is heading and how to capitalize on this paradigm shift. For instance, some of the topics to be discussed in the first meeting include:

Measuring “Experiences Per Mile” so that consumers understand the value provided by each form of transportation or mobility experience;

• Impacting of the in-vehicle experience through intelligent technology;
• How various players in the automotive ecosystem will be impacted by EPM; and
• Improving driver safety and security through more automation in the vehicle itself.

The Experiences Per Mile Advisory Council is a “invitation only” event which includes members from the most innovative companies in the connected automotive ecosystem. Qualified participants were selected from OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, third-party suppliers and more. Other relevant “connected companies” will be included such as shared mobility providers, technology organizations, application providers and even financial services. Regardless of who participates, everyone involved will play a special role in writing the next chapter in automotive history.

SOURCE: HARMAN