Salesforce Automotive Cloud adds Einstein Studio, Fleet Management

Salesforce is adding AI, telematics and a host of other capabilities to beef up Salesforce Automotive Cloud, built on the company’s Customer 360 cloud-based CRM platform and released last year as a dedicated system to help automakers better connect with dealers and end consumers.

Features that are generally available now include Einstein Studio and Fleet Management, according to a Salesforce announcement Tuesday.

“With Einstein Studio, automakers can easily build and train custom AI models with help from Salesforce ecosystem technology partners,” the company said, adding that connected car data, when paired with custom AI models, will enable automakers to generate predictive insights.

Automakers, for example, may want to alert dealers automatically when a driver’s vehicle is about to hit 100,000 miles, identify new, available vehicles that match the driver’s preferences, and even offer personalized discounts and trade-in offers.

The new Fleet Management tools, according to the company, will allow fleet owners a single view of their vehicles and enable them to define fleet action plans, such as deciding routes, driver assignments, and maintenance warnings.

The Fleet Management tools also will provide insights into completed trips and driver behavior, among other things, to enable future fleet planning and improve performance, the company said.

Automotive Loan and Lease Console to be made available in 2024

Salesforce also said that it will release a new suite, dubbed Automotive Cloud for Captive Finance, which will provide a complete view of a driver’s automotive finances, including all of their household auto loans and lease accounts, as well as their associated vehicles.

The suite will come with an Automotive Loan and Lease Console that is designed to  help auto lenders streamline and automate services, , engaging customers with timely, personalized information about lease renewals, payment reminders, or service appointments, the company said, adding that the features will be available in the early 2024.

Other features that will also be made available in early 2024 include actionable telematics and other connected car features.

“Actionable Telematics will help automakers monitor telematics data, like vehicle location, speed, fuel, or battery consumption, and use automation to detect and alert customers to changes in their car’s status,” the company said.

The telematics, for example, could read the data coming off of a vehicle and send  an alert to the driver console to warn them of any potential issues, such as an increase in engine revolutions per minute (RPMs) or  loss of tire pressure.

Salesforce is also planning a connected vehicle visualization module within the Automotive Cloud that will allow automakers to provide a real-time visualization of a vehicle’s connected features and services that will help make it easy for automakers to provide better in-car experiences, such as remote assistance.

This feature, according to the company, will be available in pilot in early 2024 and additional purchase and terms may be applied to it.