Ready Care Puts Safety First

Many of us have heard or used the phrase “safety-first,” a gentle reminder to the people we love. But what happens when consumers are behind the wheel, alone, without anyone to help them keep wellbeing top of mind?

Distractions, stress, and exhaustion happen, and for consumers, they have concerns about vehicle safety when it does. A global HARMAN consumer insights study provided a clearer picture:

34% of people want to use the time in their car to “destress.”
44% of people need to “feel secure in their own space.”
40% of people need to “feel physically comfortable.”
53% of people know that drowsiness is unsafe when driving – “being safe” is the most important need.

The most applicable findings were revealed during the study’s prototype validation testing. Participants were asked to provide feedback on features, recording how these technologies impacted their perception and even their purchase intent. The results were telling:

An alert that notified drivers to pay attention had a 73% positive impact on purchase intent.
When a drowsiness detection feature was tested among consumers, 70% said it helped them be safe.

The direction and expectation of consumers is clear – they desire improved in-vehicle health and wellbeing solutions. At HARMAN, these findings set the course for Ready Care.

“Ready Care is an industry first product that is driving real impact for driver safety and well-being and is a key part of HARMAN’s mission to deliver consumer experiences at an automotive grade,” said Armin Prommersberger, Senior Vice President of Product Management, HARMAN International. “With its unique ability to deliver customized and personalized driver interventions via a closed-loop approach, from detections via analysis to tailored interventions like adjusting the temperature, audio settings and vehicle lighting, Ready Care offers solutions and protective intelligence that constantly prioritizes the driver’s well-being.”

The Ready Care SDK and supporting APIs allow OEMs and other third-party suppliers to integrate any vehicle feature or function as a part of the in-cabin customized interventions against driver drowsiness and distraction. For example, third-party developers like Gentherm can leverage the HARMAN Open SDK to provide in-cabin interventions through its ClimateSense® solution, illustrated on HARMAN EXPLORE in the Ready Care Virtual Demo experience.

Safety-first for consumers is peace-of-mind and empowered experiences. For OEMs, the scalability of Ready Care, the flexibility to configure software bundles, the compute platform, and sensors will allow the development of even safer experiences down the road.

Karen Piurkowski

Senior Director, Global Content & Digital Marketing at HARMAN International

Connect with the Author: LinkedIn

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