What are AI agents and what can they do?
AI adoption is rapidly spreading throughout the automotive industry; it's likely that you have heard the phrase "AI employees" at some point (possibly even from us ;) but what are they? What can you use them for? And most importantly, is all the hype around them justified or smoke in mirrors?
An Automotive AI employee is a digital assistant that can understand information, make decisions, and take action on its own. Unlike a traditional chatbot that just follows a fixed script, an AI employee can react in real time to what a customer is saying—whether in a message or over a phone call—and give a relevant, natural response. In the automotive industry, this means they can handle customer questions, book test drives, follow up on leads, and even suggest the right model or package based on someone's needs—without you needing to lift a finger. Oh, and they don't have workers' rights, so that means no breaks, 24/7 consistent AI customer service! Companies building these solutions, including Relatim's work recognized by Enterprise Ireland, are at the forefront of this innovation.
What's the catch?
Normally when something sounds too good to be true… it’s because it is. But in this case that isn’t necessarily the truth; of course, like anything, AI employees aren’t perfect:
- There will always be some people that would rather speak with a person (that being said, it’s hard to tell the difference between an AI employee and a human both via text and phone conversations).
- Some AI employees for customer support are general purpose and not trained on industry-specific data, leading to less specialised responses.
- For car dealerships you still need a human to interact with customers when they are physically there, as a computer program would have a hard time showing them around the showroom.
Although yes, there are the above-mentioned drawbacks, it’s our slightly biased opinion that the benefits of AI employees for Automotive businesses massively outweigh them. An AI employee works 24/7, never makes a mistake, and will never use a sharp tone with a customer because they have had a long day—all at a fraction of the cost of human staff. .