Nissan Case Study

As the automobile industry continues to innovate to enhance the experience for both drivers and passengers, companies are beginning to utilize anthropology. More specifically, in 2018, Nissan started to explore the world of autonomous vehicles and started developing them. Being that most drivers have never experienced an autonomous vehicle, Nissan hired a cultural anthropologic expert, Melissa Cefkin, to help designers understand how people will adapt and respond to autonomous vehicles.

Melissa Cefkin begins the interview by what she does for Nissan and how anthropology plays such a critical role. She states: “My work in automotive, car systems, and future mobility is that I seek to look for taken-for-granted and assumed ways of seeing the world of cars, and to then tease apart how it could be different from different people’s perspectives.” More specifically, Cefkin and her group design the systems and architecture of AVs to cater to all people in all different types of circumstances. The automobile industry is so important to society and culture around the world as most people in some way shape or form utilize cars to get around every day. Having such a widespread significance around the globe, it is so important to have an anthropologic view to improve drivers' experiences for all people of all communities.

The interviewer, Wards, goes on to ask about the issue of trust people have with AVs and how Cefkin and her group approached and addressed this issue. Cefkin talks about how the first step is to get these AVs on the road and get people interacting with them as the first step to trusting them. Interestingly, she even goes as far as to call the people around AVs interacting with them as ‘users’ in in of themselves.

When asked about the research process, Cefkins has some pretty insightful points when it comes to anthropologic research. While there are a lot of gems, what really stuck out to me came when she says: “What we look for is how people act on trust or lack of trust.” While it is simple, this sentence encapsulates a key aspect of consumer behavior which is trust. A product can be as attractive as possible but if people do not trust it, they will never buy it.

Interview Link: https://www.wardsauto.com/nissan/nissan-digging-deep-into-human-behavior-for-autonomy

Photo Link: https://automotivetechinfo.com/2008/10/nissan-performance-new-catalog-and-racer-support/