Disney exec: Automakers need to stir emotions

Disney exec: Automakers need to stir emotions DETROIT — As vehicles become more automated, how can automakers make sure they're still making something that stirs emotions in their customers? It's a question some in the industry have been looking to address during a period of unprecedented change. A potential answer to it was given by perhaps an unlikely source at SAE International's World Congress Experience this week. Jon Snoddy, the head of show, ride and tech engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering, said the answer lies in telling stories, much in the same way that the ride experiences his team works on for Disney's theme parks are built around stories. As an example, he pointed to the muscle cars he grew up admiring as a kid in South Carolina. Those cars, as different as they appeared, all said the same thing: They're "fast cars for cool people," he said. "The reason that Detroit was able to build so many amazing things in that era is because everybody understood what they were building," Snoddy said during a keynote address at the conference. "Everybody was on the same page, and to me, that's what story does. It gives everybody a role and a way for people to connect." Snoddy said he sees the industry at risk of vehicles turning into "modules that people don't feel anything about," likening them to appliances. He urged the auto industry to design the vehicle of the future so that it stirs emotions, getting people to want to go out and do things. "The car can be one of these things that holds your life together," he said. "If you get in your car, shouldn't it know where you're going and know what you're trying to do and who's in the car and know what their preferences are? It seems like there's no reason why it can't be this seamless experience, where the car knows you and understands what you're doing." — John Irwin What you need to know

Disney exec: Automakers need to stir emotions

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