Car salespeople are replaced with AI as digital showrooms hit the metaverse

KIA and Fiat have introduced digital metaverse dealer showrooms so customers can more easily shop for cars from the comfort of their homes.

The two auto manufacturers are among the first organizations to justify the sales platform’s use within their businesses.

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The Fiat Metaverse Store was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, Axios reports.

The platform was created with Microsoft and software firm Touchcast.

In the Fiat Metaverse Store, shoppers don’t need specialized hardware like a virtual reality (VR) headset.

Everything that Fiat’s Metaverse Store offers is accessed through Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is similar to slack in that it provides office chat, videoconferencing, file storage, and application integration.

A Fiat Metaverse Store will feature a Fiat Genius who can address a shopper’s questions in real time.

These responses are pre-recorded videos, and more complicated questions are forwarded to a human.

Touchcast CEO Edo Segal told Axios: “[This shopping experience is similar to how] a human salesperson would meet you in a dealership, and you would ask them a question, and they’ll say, ‘Let me show you,’ and they would walk over and they would open the door.”

Fiat’s metaverse dealers are limited to Italy with plans to expand into other markets soon, NFT Gators reports.

Kia’s virtual showroom is currently exclusive to Germany and is powered by leading business metaverse platform Engage.

Kia’s metaverse dealer is available on mobile devices or computers but is best experienced with a VR headset, according to The Week.

Through digital avatars, metaverse Kia shoppers can walk through a virtual showroom, interact with vehicles, view service bays, and get their questions answered.

These answers will come from a clickable link that will take a consumer to Kia’s website.

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