Transformation of Value: From Suitcase to Smart Car

In Nassim Taleb's book "The Black Swan," an intriguing example is given – the wheel was invented approximately 6000 years ago, yet it was only in 1972 that someone thought to attach it to a suitcase, coincidentally, the year when a patent for a wheeled suitcase was registered. Humanity was already exploring space travel extensively, but couldn't think of adding wheels to a suitcase. It's an ironic example of understanding—or rather, misunderstanding—value. A suitcase is needed to store things, but a wheeled suitcase is needed to conveniently transport those things. The difference is roughly akin to that between a warehouse and a truck. Different objectives yield different values and, consequently, different solutions.

We regularly continue making a similar mistake almost everywhere – basing decisions not on the needs of the end customer, but on our own understanding of how things should be.

Our quality control measures (in the broad sense) assess not the value visible to the customer's eyes but the product visible through ours. Similarly, projects are chosen not based on value, but on plans or the necessity to keep teams busy. The solution, in reality, is simple – ask the customer what they want, and the more customers we survey, the better the result. Here, by the way, is another classic example involving Toyota, when the company entered the luxury niche and studied the market by directly communicating with owners of premium brand cars. The company learned what exactly is valuable in luxury cars and, at that time, consolidated all of it into one brand, Lexus, entering the market with a strong hand.

Nevertheless, this introduction, though it delves into a vast realm of understanding and measuring value and quality, is written to touch upon the topic of value transformation. This occurs when one object, possessing the properties of another, eventually becomes that other object with the properties of the first. This is exactly what happened with smartphones, and now it's happening with cars. Let's take a look at them and estimate how many years it took us to "attach wheels to a suitcase."

Throughout history, we perceived the car simply as transportation and everything inside it was to entertain us on the road – radio to pass the time, electric windows so we wouldn't be distracted from driving, anything else was a minor addition to the engine and wheels. And if it didn't matter, it could be located anywhere. By the way, the first digital monochrome display in a car appeared in 1976 in the Aston Martin Lagonda, merely displaying current parameters like speed, nothing interesting, the radio was still separate. But the first display that actually participated in controlling the car's functions appeared in 1986 in the Buick Riviera – a monochrome display positioned perpendicular to the road. But all of this was just a trial. Displays truly began to be commonplace in the early 2000s, for example, the 2000 Mercedes-Benz M-Class. There was even navigation, but the most interesting thing was the same awkward display placement relative to the driver as in 1986 - you had to divert your attention from the road to see what was happening. The display was located centrally at the bottom.

By 2005, the dashboard began to change shape, becoming more angled, but only slightly, providing a more convenient view but still distracting.

By 2010, it was clear that computers had indeed become part of our lives, and the display shifted to the upper part of the dashboard – still an awkward addition, a sign of the times, with wheels and the engine remaining in the forefront.

By 2015, it had evolved into a full-fledged multimedia system, without which it's hard to imagine a car. The display is positioned as high as possible, especially in premium brands, so there's hardly any need for distraction.

By 2020, the digital display had become an important part of the car, occupying practically the entire dashboard, the ergonomics of which didn't hinder the driver and aimed to enhance their driving experience.

Now, except for enthusiasts of mechanics and retro classics, the user (drivers became users) chooses a gadget with wheels, not wheels with a gadget. It took us 30 years to realize that it's uncomfortable to look down, and from a car, we expect not just transportation from point A to point B, but also a pleasant user experience; we expect impressions and emotions. The driving experience is still important, but where will it be in the era of autonomous vehicles?

Sometimes, we seem to forget to ask the end customer what they need, where they want a button or screen, or if they want them at all.

We've been attaching wheels to a suitcase for thirty years, not understanding that the ultimate goal is a good vacation.

How to avoid this? As always – gather enough data to refine hypotheses and then test those hypotheses on a similar sample.

And most importantly, don't forget that the world is changing rapidly, and all this needs to be implemented at a breakneck speed, managing changes on the fly and finally changing the concept of launching products, especially in the automotive industry. It's no longer just about launching a car; it's about launching a gadget with car features. In this case, how do we merge these two parts, where we need to meet safety regulator requirements, the preparation of evidence for which begins almost from the first day of working on the car, and meet the requirements of customers by releasing regular updates – this is a subject for a separate discussion.

But it's important to note that the car has ceased to be itself; its value in the eyes of the customer has transformed, meaning it can no longer be managed in the old way. The new value means new value streams, the management of which, including sales, must be revised accordingly. All changes in the business must be redirected to these new streams, not an attempt to revive the old ones.

By the way, the next time you walk through the city, pay attention to the dashboards of cars and how they have changed yearly.

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