To global automakers, there may be no more important recognition than the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. The research looks at problems vehicle owners encounter in the first 90 days of ownership. Quality is determined by the number of problems that occurs per 100 vehicles. If a model gets a low score, that means few problems, and a high-quality ranking. In J.D. Power’s 2017 report, the Ford brand shot up the list. It achieved its highest ranking since the study was launched, placing fourth overall and second among non-luxury makers. “The Ford SYNC^® 3 Infotainment System is a primary contributor to Ford Motor Company’s strong performance,” according to J.D. Power.

“As Ford accelerates the pace of innovation, we believe this best-ever quality ranking demonstrates our new technologies are reliable and easy to use,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford’s group vice president, Quality, after the study came out this summer.

Innovations that work

Vehicles are way more complex than smart phones, but few consumers want to think about a car’s complexity. Car buyers want “wow” technology. They want to jump in their car and have their infotainment system work as easily and quickly as their handheld. What we’ve learned after almost a century of consumer technology development at Panasonic, is that the “wow” wears off quickly—if the machine doesn’t work. Companies that successfully introduce innovations design them so consumers intuitively understand their features. With intuitive use comes delight, trust, and ultimately, from a consumer’s perspective, technology that disappears behind the experience it supports.

Voice recognition that hears over Bruno Mars

One interesting example is voice recognition technology. Some of the earliest voice recognition work dates to the 1950s. Back then, Bell Labs announced a machine that could understand a voice’s simple sounds, kind of like baby talk. Today consumers want vehicles with voice recognition technology that understands what they’re saying at the same time horns are blaring, passengers are talking, while Bruno Mars croons in the background. They hate it when the voice recognition system gets it wrong.

The good news is that cloud computing can provide more data processing power than ever, which enables speech recognition tech to more easily handle evolving grammar rules, word choices and an individual’s speech amidst background cacophony. As a result, consumers can use wow speech recognition tech without worrying about how to make it work. In fact, during a test with consumers, SYNC 3 was able to decipher what users were saying despite having their mouths full of food.

Consumer-centric approach

Panasonic took on the SYNC 3 project in 2013. With our consumer electronics experience and more than 60 years’ experience as a Tier 1 auto supplier, Panasonic had already established itself as a leading global supplier for in-vehicle technology for brands such as General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Toyota and Daimler and others.

Ford SYNC 3 is a prime example of the consumer-centric approach Panasonic takes when developing solutions. Its role was to lead SYNC 3’s software and hardware design, development and implementation for a fast, easy-to-use system with enhanced response to driver commands.

Fast track to market

Panasonic is one of only a few auto suppliers that offers full end-to-end software and hardware development capabilities to automakers. When we became involved SYNC 3, we knew it would have unique challenges, and be on a fast track to market. Ford leaders made decisions early that would ensure we hit the challenging 18-month timeline. Fundamentally, Ford recognized Panasonic’s historic success creating infotainment systems that rank high with consumers, and shared the idea that technology—even wow technology--should fade into the background, behind the experience it supports. Ford set up the project almost like an internal initiative with Panasonic software developers and engineers collaborating with their counterparts at the OEM. That meant if changes had to happen, they could happen fast.

Moving rapidly with quality can be done on large collaboration programs such as SYNC 3, but a supplier can’t do it alone. Ford did a fantastic job exposing SYNC 3 to its development fleets before the technology went into market. We did it too—gave out cars to non-engineers to test out the infotainment system and let us know how things worked. The result was high quality and robust design.

Today SYNC 3 scores so well, it’s considered a competitive advantage for Ford.

Looking for the next SYNC 3

Coming up with solutions that will provide OEMs a competitive advantage in the future is the crux of what we do. The Harvard Business Review in a recent article makes the case that to develop a great idea, you should start by imagining the worst idea possible. Silicon Valley is a place where you can see some of the worst ideas, but also some of the best. To soak in those newest ideas on consumer experience, electronics, autos and disruptive innovations, Panasonic has a Silicon Valley office that works with startups and the region’s largest players. We also learn a lot from customers. Ford, for instance, plans to have a fully autonomous vehicle by 2021, operating without a steering wheel or gas pedal or brake pedal.

Without doubt, self-driving cars represent wow technology. One area we’re concentrating on is machine vision so that the autonomous vehicle sees what’s going on around it. Panasonic’s history in acoustics, cameras, light detection, sensors and other innovations gives us the know how to lead in the area of object detection vision. We are also working on the car cabin and the passenger experience of tomorrow. Ever drive with someone who maneuvered too fast around corners, or followed too closely to the car in front? A future autonomous car will have to learn its passengers’ preferences for driving style, speed, horn use, and approach in poor weather. We’re doing lots of work around how algorithms learn consumer preferences and helping to define the future of driving.

About our expert: Scott Kirchner is the President of Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America.

Amid the eye-popping displays at CES, a small metal device, not much larger than a shoebox for a pair of Uggs, drew crowds of techies jostling for a close up. The device is a scalable “ePowertrain” platform including a power unit, charger and motor. Its small size struck me—especially compared to the 300-pound or so gas-fueled motor in my own car. The Panasonic ePowertrain is designed to reduce lead time for vehicle development. The renewable energy innovation and others like it are helping to fuel what Bloomberg New Energy Finance calls an “EV revolution.” As early as 2022, the cost of electric powertrains is expected to be at parity with internal combustion engines, and when that happens, we’ll see electrification take off.

Disruptive tech leading to trillions in economic value

A few years ago, McKinsey identified renewable energy, AI, advanced robotics, IoT and mobile internet among two dozen disruptive technologies that would account for trillions of dollars in economic value in the decade ahead. Panasonic is deeply engaged in almost half of these technologies. That’s important because when you’re creating entirely new experiences, chances are, you’re going to need to stitch together many of these technologies into an integrated solution. With its wide range of expertise, Panasonic is uniquely skilled at bringing together these technologies.

For the past 100 years, Panasonic has been all about creating a better experience for the consumer. We’ve done that through consumer electronics products and home appliances. More recently, we’ve increasingly created these experiences in partnership with businesses and government entities through integrated solutions that impact the lives of our customers’ customers. Our future is focused on finding ways to apply our breadth of expertise in disruptive technologies to make radically new experiences possible. Here’s a look at a few we’re working on.

AI & retail therapy

Artificial intelligence has been called the most disruptive force in technology in the coming ten years, and at CES 2018, AI shaped everything from robots to home appliances to future stores. Retail industry analysts observe that stores using AI may see a competitive advantage and those that ignore it may not see their next birthday.

One Panasonic retail innovation at CES employs a mix of cameras, image processing technology and artificial intelligence to detect a person’s emotions. Think about the power this integrated solution brings to a salesperson who tailors her approach to a shopper who enters an establishment in a happy mood. The tech mix can also help a salesperson think about different approach for a person who enters the store in low spirits. Early results from one retailer using face recognition in a store show that shoppers registering as happy spent a third more than other patrons.

20 times greater mobile internet

Mobile Internet is another disruptive technology expected to account for significant economic value. Until fairly recently, the airline cabin was one of the last places where the digital world did not intersect with a physical environment. That meant at 30,000 feet, you couldn’t stream your latest binge-watching program.

Panasonic aims to change that with our third-generation technology. The network, when paired with a new satellite modem, is designed to offer bandwidth up to twenty times greater than what was previously available. It’s expected to open up new possibilities in Internet browsing, video streaming and voice applications.

These are just a few examples of how disruptive technologies are enabling us to bring physical products into the digital world. The work creates consumer experiences that are richer, more rewarding, safer and with less of the friction that frustrates our lives today. For business and governments delivering these experiences can mean more satisfied consumers and constituents and better, more efficient workflows.

Read more about cool ideas, disruptive tech and consumer experiences in CES 2018: Panasonic, Turning 100, Looks Ahead to Next Century.

In their search for novel ways to bring customers into brick and mortar stores, retailers are turning to a technology that’s also cropping up in amusement parks and movie theaters. The same Virtual Reality that gives people the chance to fight monsters and travel to the future via elaborate simulation in cinemas and theme parks is also being used to create shopping experiences.

Retailers are introducing VR to teleport shoppers to magical places where their products play a starring role. The opportunities are endless. Imagine VR devices with vital sign-tracking sensors that monitor things like pulse, body temperature, breathing rate being used to customize experiences. The sensor measuring low bio signs in a customer shopping for sneakers, for instance, might trigger the VR appearance of a celebrity athlete to generate more excitement.

Sensors are shrinking in size, and increasing in capacity and capabilities. Not only are they beginning to shape entertainment and shopping—providing enthralling experiences as well as important data to operators--they’re also crucial to the auto industry as well as everything from healthcare devices and home appliances to toys and street lights. Sensors make these products smarter and more connected. Car rental companies are able to use sensors to track their vehicles’ locations at all times. In aviation, data from sensors mounted on jets help forecasters deliver more accurate weather.

Trillion-sensor world grows

A few years ago, when experts began to add up the number of sensors already embedded in the IoT of networked objects, a phrase emerged, “the trillion-sensor world.” Since then sales of sensors have increased and so has their contribution to production and consumption of goods and services, in short, the overall economy. Sales of sensors grew 14% in 2016 to a record-high $7.3 billion, surpassing the previous annual peak of $6.4 billion a year earlier, according to a recent report by IC Insights. The market research firm forecasts total sensor sales to reach $10.5 billion in 2021.

In “Winning with Digital Confidence,” a recent article in Strategy & Business, authors discuss hotel rooms of the future. Today, even if you’re staying at a five-star beach resort, when there’s an issue with the air conditioning, you have to call maintenance and usually hang out until they show. Soon the same hotel room will be wired with sensors and connected devices that will see problems before you do, report them and fix them before you even know something’s awry so you stay cool and comfortable. Already, in some places sensors are detecting the presence of a person in the hotel room and triggering the heating or cooling system to keep the occupant comfortable. The authors go on to say that this smart building technology will impact not only hotel operations, but also the way people do their jobs. I’d argue that the same holds true in many other industries—sensors, and the data they provide, will shape future operations and careers.

What’s fascinating is to think about how sensors will be used in the future, and how they will impact our work and lives. A recent report from the firm EY makes the point that insurers who leverage new data sources, such as sensors and wearable tech, gain enormous potential to disrupt their competition. A walk through the halls of CES always turns up interesting ideas on novel uses of sensors. Some people travel to Silicon Valley or to Tokyo to see how sensors and other technologies may shape the future of their industry. I like “tech days” where Panasonic brings in innovators from R&D labs to talk about some of their most promising ideas.

Read more about sensors’ impact on retail and cities now and in the future.

About our expert: Jeff Howell is the President of Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America.