Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe that an opportunity is available to improve road safety when it comes to signaling lane changes. Throughout various driving interactions, it’s crazy to see the number of drivers who change lanes without signaling. An opportunity exists to improve road safety by mandating automotive manufacturers to implement improved standard driver safety technology that abides by a new federal regulation. The mandate will force automotive companies to implement software that alerts the driver that they made an unsafe lane change which in turn coach the driver to start using their turn signal. Implementing this technology will significantly reduce the amount auto accidents that are caused by a driver who fails to signal where they are going. The target audience that has the need for this opportunity are the people who currently hold valid driver’s licenses and current student drivers. As previously stated, this need comes from the number of auto accidents caused by failure to use turn signals. The need is being met now currently by a lot of auto manufacturers implementing blind spot monitoring technology in cars to warn drivers of people in their blind spot. I 90% sure that this opportunity exists

 

Iteration 1

I interviewed a student, Frankie, who currently holds a valid driver’s license and uses a scooter to complete his daily commute. I explained the opportunity to him and he agrees that the problem exists and poses huge safety concerns for people like him who only have a helmet as protection while he is traveling on the road. In response to the opportunity, he disagreed that mandating the software will be effective in reducing the number of drivers who change lanes improperly. He brought up a valid point that if there was an emergency situation, the technology would be ineffective. Instead, he believes drivers should just simply pay attention to the road.

 

Iteration 2

I interviewed another student, Matthieu, who also holds a valid driver’s license. His initial response to the problem is that it is an irresponsible driving practice. He agreed that that opportunity will be a viable solution to the problem he attributes the implementation of this technology to improve the safety of the road. Matthieu claims the need exists because the current situation of not using turn signals make the road unsafe. He does not like how irresponsible drivers can be when it comes to driving. He feels as though this opportunity will be especially crucial to new drivers and senior driver who may not be as alert as the middle demographic of drivers.

 

Iteration 3

I Interviewed a third student, Ayinde, who also has a valid drivers license. He likes the potential of the opportunity but provided various points of improvement for the opportunity. He did agree that it is a problem that drivers do not use their turn signals. He also pointed out that the technology may not be smart enough to distinguish normal driving situation that would make the technology useless. He stated that a simple driving situation of turning a corner could render this technology useless. He stated that possibly more thought can be implemented into finding an opportunity to fix this problem.

Reflection:

During the first interview, I was taken back a little to find out that someone didn’t agree with my opportunity. I thought this would be something that would be revolutionary and everyone would want to be a part of it. I learned that this opportunity had many faults and would need to be thought through so more before it could have the potential to be implemented.

 

The second interview, I felt a little better because the interviewee agreed to my point of view and saw the same potential in the idea as I did. The interviewee provides ways to improve it as well but they were the same as the points from interviewee # 1.

 

The third interview was similar to the first one but this person completely threw out my idea. The interviewee provided sensible reasons as to why it would not work that I had not thought about such as the technology not being able to distinguish certain driving conditions which will make the technology useless.

 

Summary:

Based off of the three interviews, I believe the opportunity still exists. There are some aspects that will need to be reworked but I do still see the opportunity being a viable solution to the problem. I do believe the opportunity is more accurate because I was able to confirm with the interviewers that the problem is there and the presented opportunity can eliminate that problem. Customer feedback is important for entrepreneurs because it allows them to see stuff they may have overlooked. This will allow full satisfaction of customers because we will tend to their needs and wants.

#Assignment 4