Artificial intelligence is often discussed as a technology, but in automotive retail, its real value comes from understanding customer needs and supporting sales.
AI AutoAgent is an AI-powered vehicle discovery and recommendation engine designed for vehicle marketplace platforms. It helps buyers find the right vehicles through natural conversations while generating higher-quality leads for dealers and marketplace operators.
When buyers arrive on a vehicle marketplace, they do not always have a specific make or model in mind. Instead, they have a need: a growing family, a longer commute, lower operating costs, or a desire to switch to an electric vehicle.
That is why the current focus of AI AutoAgent’s development at Fiare is on one key objective: teaching the agent to understand vehicles in the same way an experienced automotive salesperson does.
“The goal is not for customers to know exactly which vehicle they are looking for. Instead, they can simply describe their needs, and the agent will help them find suitable options,” says Santeri Laivuori, Product Manager of AI AutoAgent at Fiare.
Customers talk about their needs, not technical specifications
Traditional website searches and chatbots often rely on technical search criteria such as make, model, powertrain, or model year. In reality, customers approach vehicle purchasing from a very different perspective.
For example, a customer might say:
- I need a vehicle for a family with three children
- I do most of my driving in the city
- I want the lowest possible operating costs
- I need a vehicle for towing a boat
- I would like to switch to an electric vehicle, but I don’t know which one would suit me best
These are exactly the kinds of questions that experienced automotive sales professionals answer based on their expertise. AI AutoAgent is being developed to provide the same type of guidance.
Developing together with customers
AI AutoAgent is not being developed in isolation from the realities of vehicle marketplaces. Product development is continuously guided by marketplace operators, dealers, and vehicle buyers who use these platforms every day.
“Many of the most important development ideas come directly from our customers. They see every day what kinds of questions car buyers ask and at what stage of the purchasing journey they need the most support,” Laivuori explains.
The goal is not to build a generic chatbot, but a specialized AI agent for automotive retail that understands vehicles, customer needs, and the vehicle purchasing process.
The next step in AI AutoAgent development
Fiare is currently testing new AI models that enable the agent to understand conversational context more effectively.
The latest test version of AI AutoAgent does more than simply answer questions. It can also help customers identify their needs and suggest suitable vehicle options based on those needs.
For example, for a customer whose driving is primarily city-based, the agent may recommend a different vehicle than it would for a large family regularly travelling long distances, even if the customer cannot name a specific vehicle model.
“We want to build an agent that customers can talk to about buying a vehicle in the same way they would talk to a knowledgeable automotive salesperson,” says Laivuori.
Towards a better vehicle buying experience
The goal of the AI agent is to help customers find the right vehicle faster while reducing the amount of time dealership sales teams spend on repetitive introductory conversations. In the long term, the aim is to make vehicle purchasing easier, faster, and more personalized.
Vehicle marketplaces have traditionally relied on filters such as make, model, fuel type, or price. While effective, these filters assume that buyers already know what they are looking for. AI AutoAgent introduces a more natural way to discover vehicles by allowing buyers to describe their needs in everyday language and receive relevant recommendations from marketplace inventory.
As the agent becomes better at understanding both vehicles and customer needs, it will be able to guide customers toward suitable options even before their first conversation with a salesperson. This allows sales teams to focus on more meaningful discussions rather than basic qualification questions.
This benefits both vehicle buyers and dealerships: customers find the most suitable vehicle more quickly, while sales teams receive better-qualified and more sales-ready leads.
The development of AI AutoAgent continues in close collaboration with our customers. Our goal is to build an AI-powered vehicle discovery experience that helps marketplace users find the right vehicles faster while helping marketplace operators and dealers generate more qualified leads.
What Does AI AutoAgent Do?
- Understands buyer intent through natural conversations
- Recommends vehicles from marketplace inventory
- Answers vehicle-related questions
- Generates qualified leads for dealers and sellers
- Improves vehicle discovery and buyer engagement
- Supports buyers throughout the vehicle purchasing journey
Discover AI AutoAgent and learn how artificial intelligence can support your dealership’s sales performance.
Learn More
Contact our team to learn how AI AutoAgent can help your dealership improve customer engagement, generate qualified leads, and support vehicle sales.
