JD Power Partners to Add In-Car Systems Data

US-based J.D. Power has announced an alliance with in-car systems developer and manufacturer HARMAN International, which it says will provide new data to enrich the customer experience, solve problems and 'help identify what consumers want from their increasingly automated vehicles'.

HARMAN's products and solutions include connected car systems, audio and visual products including Harman Kardon speakers, and solutions for IOT and enterprise automation. The firm employs around 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics in March last year.

The partners say they aim to integrate customer insights with connected car data to provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with more accurate feedback from owners, responding to the rapid emergence of new technology in the automotive industry. Driver usage data from HARMAN's Ignite automotive cloud solution will be combined with J.D. Power's consumer data to provide insights into how consumers are interacting with systems and what they may want from the in-car experience.

Data only will be collected from consumers who opt in to share in; and will be anonymised and aggregated to protect consumer privacy, the firms say.

Doug Betts, SVP of Global Automotive at J.D. Power (pictured) comments: Having been on the OEM side for most of my career, I know the industry has been looking for this kind of solution for a long time. It was easy to dream, but getting it done takes a skill set that no single company has. The alliance of our two companies can credibly deliver the dream of merging consumer and vehicle data to provide a clear view of cause and effect'.

Sanjay Dhawan, President, HARMAN Connected Services & the group's CTO, says the partnership is 'set to realise the exciting potential of connected cars, including enhanced safety, greater performance and more immersive and personalised experiences'.

J.D. Power, fifty this year and headquartered in Costa Mesa, CA, is a portfolio company of private equity firm XIO Group. Web sites: www.jdpower.com and www.harman.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.