Development of a Data-driven Methodology for Design of New Service Concepts for Personal Vehicle Operations Management

Abstract

Various types and massive amounts of data are collected in the automotive industry. Such data proliferation facilitates and improves the design of new services for supporting driver’s vehicle operations. This research defines this type of service as a personal vehicle operations management (PVOM) service. A PVOM service helps drivers drive safely, conveniently, and pleasurably with the use of vehicle operational data. Despite the applicability of big data to PVOM service design, few efforts have been made to establish a design process for PVOM services based on such data. Existing methodologies for service design can be used as references for designing PVOM services with the data; however, their applicability is limited because they do not focus on the use of data for new service design. In addition, the unique nature of PVOM service design is not reflected in the existing studies because they do not focus on the design of PVOM services. To fill the research gap, this resesarch aims to develop a data-driven methodology to design PVOM service concepts. The methodology includes a procedure for PVOM service concept design by using PVOM-related data and two supporting tools for proceeding specific steps in the procedure. The procedure was devised based on insights gained from literature related to PVOM service concept design and three case studies on designing PVOM service concepts by utilizing PVOM-related data. The procedure consists of six steps : (1) PVOM service objective definition, (2) PVOM-related data preparation, (3) PVOM-related data analysis planning, (4) PVOM- related data analysis, (5) PVOM service content generation, and (6) PVOM service concept definition. The procedure aims at helping service designers understand driver’s vehicle operations through PVOM-related data analysis, and then design new PVOM service concepts efficiently on the basis of such understanding. The first tool, reference tables for PVOM-related data analysis planning, aims to help service designers devise various plans for PVOM-related data analysis. In particular, the tool helps service designers conduct the Step 3 in the proposed procedure. The second tool, morphological matrix for PVOM service content generation, aims at aiding service designers with the generation of various service contents to be delivered to drivers. Particularly, the tool helps service designers conduct the Step 5 in the proposed procedure. The procedure and the tools were tested and refined through a retrospective case study and laboratory experiments, respectively. The developed methodology presents a systematic design process for PVOM service concepts by the efficient analyses of PVOM-related data, and it may further create a synergistic effect if incorporated into the existing methodologies to designing new service concepts. From a theoretical perspective, this research aims to contribute to extending the research area of new service design by describing how to analyze and utilize data for designing new service concepts and providing a basis for data-driven service innovations in the current data-rich economy. From a practical perspective, this study aims to aid service designers in designing new PVOM service concepts by utilizing PVOM-related data.