MySpeedy
Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi. Bridgestone is the largest manufacturer of tyres in the world, followed by Michelin (France), Goodyear (United States), Continental (Germany) and Pirelli (Italy).
Bridgestone Group had 181 production facilities in 24 countries as of July 2018.
Johan is the Consumer Solutions Lead for Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this role, he helps with transforming Bridgestone from a tire manufacturer into a digital mobility solutions provider. He is tasked with creating and implementing the long term vision, strategy and roadmap for the People Mobility and Retail segments.
Can you describe the project we have done together? What were the different components?
My Speedy is a business-to-consumer predictive maintenance solution that allows drivers to monitor their vehicle’s health and state in real-time. Its primary goal is to keep drivers from having unexpected maintenance events, such as a battery that refuses to start. The second goal is to enhance driver safety by monitoring and alerting on safety-critical events such as damaged tires or worn-out brakes. Additionally, the solution also foresees the ability to schedule appointments in-app to boost the overall customer experience.
What was the role of Faktion in the My Speedy project?
A predictive maintenance solution like My Speedy requires multiple components coming together to work properly, including hardware, connectivity, algorithms, and a smartphone application. Faktion was responsible for turning the “dumb” incoming vehicle data into “intelligent” and actionable user insights by using machine and deep learning techniques.
Why did you choose for Faktion?
We chose to work with Faktion for two main reasons. First, we valued the true collaborative culture they brought to the project, with a sincere interest in and appreciation for each other’s targets, goals, and constraints. Secondly, we also liked Faktion’s track record and experience with machine learning for sensor data, which gave us the confidence we needed to kick this off.
How do you see the future of the collaboration with Faktion?
We look forward to working with Faktion on the next steps of this project or on other future ventures, as they have proven to be a great partner for us throughout this journey. Their willingness to get to know our business, to think with us, and to educate us on topics such as Machine Learning along the project is highly valued. Their communication was also always open and honest, which is not an easy thing on cross-border and cross-departmental innovation projects.
What went less smoothly and should improve in the future?
Along the way, we learned that we should have foreseen more time for capturing the necessary modeling and training data, as generating that data on an ad-hoc basis proved not to be the most efficient approach. We also feel that we should have spent more time managing our leadership’s expectations upfront. All stakeholders should be able to distinguish the true value of the technology from the hype. Lastly, we also underestimated the complexities revolving around new data regulations (i.e. GPDR) – but that is one thing, of course.
What is your piece of advice for others?
Becoming a data-driven company is a constant, iterative, and long-term process. Make sure to have the right partners on your side that are committed to your success. You might not need them at every step of the process, and there are obviously quite some things you can do in-house. Still, having the right experts close is crucial to keep pushing your thinking and keep learning. I hope we can continue our good collaboration with Faktion in the years to come!
We chose to work with Faktion for two main reasons. First, we valued the true collaborative culture they brought to the project, and secondly, we liked Faktion’s track record and experience with machine learning for sensor data.
