Mobility of the Future: emotionally intelligent digital humans

Barcelona - At the Mobile World Congress Daimler Financial Services presents a digital human concept called 'Sarah', which in the future will redefine the link between man and machine using artificial and emotional intelligence. 'Sarah' will be able to assist customers similar to a personal concierge, with the goal to offer the right information at the right time with a convenient and emotionally intelligent, digital touchpoint. As the finance and mobility portfolio of car manufacturers becomes increasingly complex, the challenge to meet the individual wishes of customers is growing.

Udo Neumann, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Daimler Financial Services: “We meet this challenge with a unique combination of artificial and emotional intelligence. A digital human like ‘Sarah’ will serve as the interface in our financial services and mobility ecosystem, enabling us to deliver an unprecedented customer experience in the near future.”

Benedikt Schell, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and member of the Board of Management at Daimler Financial Services: “Over 80% of today’s purchases start online. It is exactly there - at the first touch - where we will exploit data-driven insights and guarantee a tailor-made customer experience.”

Emotional intelligence will play a crucial role in perfectly adapting services such as car financing, leasing, and insurances, car-sharing or ride-hailing to customers. Different from regular voice assistants, ‘Sarah’ will be able in the future to recognize non-verbal behavior in real-time using face recognition.

Udo Neumann: “A self-learning and emotionally capable digital human will help to transform our customer service paradigm. Digital humans will be able to learn and understand our environment and connect with us emotionally, helping us in different areas of our life.”

Daimler Financial Services is the first auto financing company to work together with Soul Machines, a groundbreaking high-tech company based in Auckland, New Zealand. Soul Machines technology is based on the Academy Award winning work of Dr. Mark Sagar. With the assistance of digital humans and data-driven insights it will redefine customer experience. daimler.com

Further information from Daimler is available at:
www.media.daimler.com und www.daimler-financialservices.com

Daimler at a Glance
Daimler AG is one of the world’s most successful automotive companies.
With its divisions Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services, the Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. Daimler Financial Services provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance, financial investments, credit cards, and innovative mobility services. The company’s founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history with the invention of the automobile in the year 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, it is a motivation and commitment of Daimler to shape safely and sustainably the future of mobility: The Group’s focus is on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior automobiles that appeal and fascinate. Daimler consequently invests in the development of efficient drive trains with the long-term goal of locally emission-free driving: from hightech combustion engines about hybrid vehicles to electric drive trains powered by battery or fuel cell. Furthermore, the company follows a consistent path towards intelligent connectivity of its vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility concepts. This is just one example of how Daimler willingly accepts the challenge of meeting its responsibility towards society and the environment. Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. Its current brand portfolio includes, in addition to the world’s most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz
(Source: Interbrand-Study „The Anatomy of Growth“, 10/5/2016), as well as Mercedes-AMG,
Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes me, the brands smart, EQ, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, FUSO, Setra and Thomas Built Buses, and Daimler Financial Services’ brands: Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Daimler Truck Financial, moovel, car2go and mytaxi. The company is listed on the stock exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart (stock exchange symbol DAI). In 2017, the Group sold around 3.3 million vehicles and employed a workforce of more than 289,300 people; revenue totalled €164.3 billion and EBIT amounted to €14.7 billion.

Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany