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Forbes
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
New Harman Tech Aims To Monitor, Reduce Driver Distraction
Images from Harman's Ready VISION QVUE and Ready Vision AR Solution, which project information on a ... More vehicle's windshield to keep the driver's eyes on the road. Without having to look away from the road, a driver is presented with information and images ranging from road hazards to navigation cues to approaching pedestrians. Another system uses the vehicle's connectivity to assist drivers anticipate road hazards, and still one more monitors whether a driver is actually paying attention to the road and even monitors the driver's heartbeat to detect his or her stress level. They're all innovations from Harman, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., LTD, aimed at the ongoing issue of improving safety by reducing driver distraction and increasing awareness of road conditions. Between the use of smartphones, operating infotainment systems and just conversing with other occupants, a driver's attention to the road is constantly being challenged. 'When we think about distraction, I hate the dirty word,' declared Bryan Reimer, founder, co-director advanced vehicle technologies consortium MIT AgeLab, during a briefing on research conducted with Toyota Motor Co.'s Collaborative Safety Research Center, last week. 'The reason I hate the dirty word is because we are 100% of the time distracted, whether you're listening to somebody, whether you're fidgeting and writing. We as humans, if our attention isn't devoted some places are continually, either externally, visibly or internally, thinking about something else, distracted by something.' Automakers and suppliers are not distracted from tackling this issue. Automated driving systems such as General Motor Co.'s Super Cruise and Ford Motor Co.'s BlueCruise monitor driver attentiveness and sound warnings, give haptic feedback and even disengage if the driver is detected not paying attention to the road. At a recent technology showcase at its Novi Experience Center in suburban Detroit, Harman demonstrated its suite of 'Ready' solutions for improving driver attentiveness. Ready Vision QVUE and Ready Vision AR Solution uses a combination of very high definition modules tucked below the windshield, augmented reality and hands-free operation to provide drivers information and feedback without the need to look away from the road. 'The information is meant to be not distracting, but information that you need while you're on your ride,' said delivery manager Natalie Saline. 'When you have this, you don't need a cluster in your vehicle that's usually hidden behind your steering wheel a little hard to see. We're putting it within the field of view of the driver on the windshield,'' explained Luis Sagastume, senior manager, product development, during a demonstration. See the video below. Harman's Ready Care system uses cameras, radar and even heart rate monitoring to track whether or not a driver is paying attention to the road. 'Sometimes your heart is beating faster, sometimes slower, and that's a good indicator that you're actually relaxed, like a stressed heart will be not a flat line here, but it will be a very steady line,' said product manager Marcus Futterlieb. 'So we're not just looking whether your eyes are on the road, but also if your mind is on the road.' Harman Ready Care in-cabin monitoring system tracks driver distraction, drowsiness and stress ... More levels. Using a vehicle's existing connectivity with, say, the 5G network, Harman's Ready Aware technology aims to improve a driver's situational awareness without requiring additional hardware such as sensors. 'It provides up to 15 type of alerts,' explained Amine Taleb, responsible for connectivity innovation. 'What we mean by alerts is what the driver is going to see in the dashboard. We call them event based alerts, like a disabled vehicle on the road.' To show how all the Ready systems work in concert, they were installed in what the company calls its Auto One Car, demonstrated in the video below by senior marketing manager Ben Chung. Most of Harman's technology is in some vehicles now, or will be soon. Even with driver assistance technology and innovations aimed at reducing driver distraction to improve safety, MIT's Reimer admitted the battle to win drivers' complete attention is tough. 'Comparisons of non-driving related tasks between vehicles suggest that there is complex interplays with driver management system that aren't cohesively understood. They're not trivial. They're nuanced,' said Reimer. 'We've got to be thinking about, how do we manage what people want to do anyway, more effectively?'
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Do clients trust you? Depends on who they — and you — are
No two clients are the same when it comes to financial advising, but certain demographics can play a significant role in how investors view their relationships with financial advisors. Factors like age, gender and race can influence how clients view their advisor's role and their preferred methods of communication, according to new research from the TIAA Institute and the MIT AgeLab. Advisors looking to expand their practices should add more emphasis on client demographics in their approaches, the researchers wrote. "While traditional advice remains essential, we're seeing clear signals that the future of financial advice must be more personalized, demographically focused and accessible across multiple channels," Pam Feldstein, executive vice president at TIAA Advice Solutions, wrote in the study. "As an industry, our opportunity lies in bridging proven advisory expertise with evolving client preferences to create more meaningful and impactful financial relationships." The study, which surveyed over 1,000 individuals about their advice-seeking behavior and views of financial advisors, found that just 40% of people are satisfied with the financial advice they receive, pointing to a crucial gap between the advice given and client expectations. Across demographics, clients primarily seek out financial advice for retirement planning and saving. But researchers found that the timeline for that behavior can vary significantly between men and women. "Women prioritize retirement savings advice at career start and near retirement, while experiencing a concerning decline in advice-seeking during peak earning years (ages 25–54). This stage often aligns with caregiving and sandwich generation roles that present new financial challenges and a deeper need for advice," the researchers wrote. "Men, conversely, consistently seek investment and tax planning advice at higher rates than women, though both genders equally pursue debt management guidance." READ MORE: Fiduciary standard drives client trust in advisors: Cerulli research Demographics can also shape the attributes that matter most to a client when looking for a financial advisor. Women consistently rate factors like professional expertise, reputation and years of experience more highly than men when describing what they value in an advisor. Men, meanwhile, place more importance on advisor relatability than women. Race can also play a role in what clients look for in a potential advisor. Black clients place a higher priority on cost considerations than any other group in the survey. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as Hispanics, place slightly less importance on cost considerations compared to Black clients, while white clients place the least importance on advisor costs. Demographics are especially impactful when it comes to client communication, advisors say. "We tend to see our younger clients as ones that really crave financial education as we have a natural emphasis on Generation X and millennial clients," said Thomas Van Spankeren, a principal and financial advisor at RISE Investment Management in Chicago. "Their communication style is often digital, but one would be surprised to learn that they also enjoy a hand-written letter." READ MORE: Women face unique retirement challenges — but advisors can help Across generations, 62% of people surveyed said they prefer to communicate over a phone call with an advisor, according to TIAA and MIT research. That preference increases with age. Just 50% of clients aged 18 to 34 said they prefer talking to an advisor over a phone call, with that figure jumping to over 70% for clients 55 and up. "Most of the clients I have that are 60-plus and local like to visit my office in person and do face to face as much as possible, whereas clients that I have that are in their 30s or early 40s, also nearby, will almost always do a Zoom or a virtual [meeting]. It's just the way people communicate," said Ross Dugas, founder of Scientific Financial in Houston. Advisors looking to attract clients of all ages should take a "hybrid approach" to communication, mindful of differing preferences between different age groups, the researchers wrote in their study. The importance of identity can go both ways, Dugas said. A client looking for a financial advisor is often looking for someone who they feel can understand their situation. Sometimes that comes down to things like gender and age, but it can also include more specific experiences that an advisor shares with a client. Dugas, who worked as an engineer for over a decade, said that many of his clients gravitate toward his practice because of their shared background in engineering and science. READ MORE: 5 lessons for advisors working with high net worth clients "I have a lot of scientists and technical folks that feel comfortable with me, just because … I understand where they're coming from, and we kind of have that common basis of just the way that we think," he said. "We're looking at a trust and an identity factor, and [when] you're going to get into someone's financial information, that's very, very sensitive, and it's important that you develop that trust." Researchers at TIAA and MIT agree. "The need for trust is universal," the researchers wrote. "The fundamental elements of trust — expertise, reputation and the ability to explain complex concepts clearly — remain consistently valued in advisory relationships and are universal across all demographics and income levels." 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