CoPilot Debuts AI-Powered Car Shopping App

CoPilot has debuted a car buying app powered by an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.

The new offering, which CoPilot said is a market first, lets consumers search for and receive AI-curated, ranked recommendations with detailed analysis on which car is the best fit for them, based on their preferences and location, according to a Friday (Nov. 17) news release.

“CoPilot’s AI-driven app eliminates the time-consuming legwork of car shopping for consumers, doing more research and analysis in seconds than a human could achieve in hours,” the company said in the release.

Once the shopper tells CoPilot what they’re looking for, the AI will instantly search area car dealers for vehicles that match their specifications and rank them so buyers know the best car for them at the most affordable price.

“Unlike many other car shopping platforms, CoPilot’s recommendations are unbiased, with dealers unable to pay to influence these results,” the release said.

The AI also offers detailed analysis as to why it has recommended each vehicle, as well as insights on what makes the car a good buy, plus concerns “that should be fully considered before buying that particular car,” the company said.

CoPilot is rolling out this tool at a time when digital automotive platforms are adding features and reducing costs to cope with a challenging economic environment.

In one recent example of this trend, CarGurus has debuted a feature that lets dealers present two types of offers to consumers who are considering selling their car. The first offer is based on the idea that the dealer will pick up the vehicle at the seller’s home.

“Consumers are now getting a second offer, which is a choice: ‘Would you like to drop that off at your local dealership and get a higher price point there?’ While there isn’t the same convenience factor, you get a higher price point,” Sam Zales, the company’s chief operating officer, said during an earnings call.

And as PYMNTS noted in another report last week, profitability for these car-shopping platforms has been “volatile, sometimes elusive.”

“Inventory’s been lumpy, aging and — in the age of (still) high interest rates — tough to afford for many consumers, as the spate of recent earnings reports from the online platforms show,” the report said.