Guide to Automotive Cloud

The automotive industry is in the midst of a significant shift, moving toward an agentic enterprise model. This transformation is changing the entire customer and employee experience, from the initial test drive to long-term ownership and service. As the industry evolves, the need for a unified, intelligent platform to manage this complexity becomes paramount. Built to address the unique challenges of modern vehicle manufacturers, dealers, and financing groups, the solution is Salesforce Automotive Cloud, now known as Agentforce Automotive.

An automotive cloud is a specialized, industry-focused cloud computing platform designed to meet the operational needs of the entire automotive ecosystem. Its purpose is to centralize data, connect siloed systems, and provide a single source of truth for all aspects of the driver, vehicle, financial data,and employee journeys.

Such a platform enables organizations to move away from traditional, transactional processes like opaque financing and simple purchase influences. Instead, it facilitates modern, future-focused experiences such as proactive customer outreach, continuous lead conversion, and connected vehicle services. This shift is crucial for transforming vehicle owners into loyal customers and activating new sources of recurring revenue.

Salesforce Automotive Cloud is the unified, intelligent platform built on the Salesforce 360 platform, specifically tailored for the automotive sector. Now known as Agentforce Automotive, this AI CRM for automotive organizations, is designed to remove friction points for customers, partners, and employees, creating a seamless and unforgettable experience across sales, finance, and service.

By taking advantage of AI agents, the platform augments every partner and employee, activates every insight, and automates every workflow. It moves the driver journey from a fragmented set of steps to a continuous, connected experience. The former Automotive Cloud offers a deep context control layer and an automotive data model to provide a 360-degree view of the customer, vehicle, and all interactions.

Adopting an industry-specific automotive cloud like Automotive Cloud provides numerous advantages for businesses, leading to significant improvements in operations, customer satisfaction, and revenue. Some examples include:

The platform is designed to boost employee productivity and modernize the technology stack within the automotive organization. This can be achieved by automating routine tasks and giving employees intelligent agent assistants for every interaction. The result is a more efficient workforce that can focus on creating unforgettable customer moments.

In the agentic era, speed is a key differentiator. Automotive Cloud empowers teams to respond faster to both customers and employees. This rapid response is critical for continuous lead conversion and proactive service.

Automotive Cloud helps organizations consolidate their systems onto a deeply unified, open, and trusted platform. This consolidation has led to an average of a 25% decrease in IT costs for companies utilizing Salesforce's success metrics. The platform's ease of use, including "no code" and "vibe code" capabilities, further reduces the complexity and expense of maintaining multiple systems.

The goal of the agentic enterprise is to transform every vehicle owner into a loyal fan. The unified data model and Agentforce-Powered Driver Journey make this possible by enabling deep personalization across sales, finance, and service. The platform facilitates proactive outreach anywhere and enables connected services and recurring revenue streams. When customer issues arise, the platform helps turn them into opportunities to create a customer for life.

The core benefit of Automotive Cloud is the unification of the entire customer lifecycle—Sales, Finance, and Service—onto a single platform. This removes the organizational and technological friction that previously existed in moments like lead handoffs, trade-ins, and maintenance. The result is a seamless experience for the customer.

Automotive Cloud is an end-to-end solution that integrates every touchpoint of the driver journey. It works by combining an industry-specific data model and processes with advanced AI agents and the trusted Salesforce Customer 360 platform.

• Data Unification: The platform begins by unifying all driver, vehicle, and employee data across the entire ecosystem into the Automotive Data Model and Data 360 for Automotive. This 360-degree view source of truth is the foundation for all subsequent actions.
• AI-Powered Sales: Agentforce Sales Concierges and lead handling agents ensure a seamless handoff from the first customer click to the test drive. Agents assist with tasks like trade-in appraisals, inventory management, and dealer search. The system helps to ensure every lead is converted.
• Seamless Finance: Agent assistance makes vehicle purchases seamless. The vehicle finance management and collections assistance features help with loan processing, payments, and application reviews.
• Proactive Service: Vehicle Service Management and agents for proactive service help resolve customer issues efficiently. Features like Remote Action Automation and Dynamic Vehicle Assessments allow for quicker and more accurate diagnoses and repair estimates.
• Continuous Improvement: The platform provides business insights and leverages the Agentforce 360 platform's Command Center for ongoing orchestration and open APIs. This allows the entire operation to continuously evolve and improve the connected driver experience.

The platform's features are designed to address the fragmented and routine processes of the traditional automotive experience, replacing them with a proactive, agent-powered driver journey.

• Agentforce Sales Concierge: This feature ensures a seamless lead handoff and optimizes the sales process from the initial engagement to the final purchase. It also provides support for trade-in appraisals and dealer search.
• Vehicle Finance Management: This provides agent assistance for seamless vehicle purchases. It is generally available for managing credit bureau data and includes collections assistance. Features like loan processing and payment support are key components.
• Vehicle Service Management: This core feature helps teams resolve customer issues quickly. It includes Remote Action Automation, Dynamic Vehicle Assessments, and enhancements for recall campaigns. It is instrumental in providing proactive service and warranty entitlements.
• Automotive Data Model: A standardized, industry-specific data model that unifies customer, vehicle, and asset data into a single, comprehensive view. This foundational layer supports all agentic processes and customer interactions.
• Agentforce for Revenue: This feature helps automotive companies activate new features and recurring revenue streams, moving from transactional service to connected services. This includes managing subscriptions and upsell opportunities during the service process.

Automotive Cloud is built to support a wide array of use cases, spanning the entire automotive value chain, including fleets, trucks, captives, and dealer groups. Some use cases include:

The platform transforms the traditional, routine sales tactics into a proactive and connected journey. With features like Sales Concierge, the process ensures every lead is perfectly managed from initial engagement through to the test drive, purchase, and financing. Agent assistance helps customers with questions like "What is the best deal for this car?" and "When is the best time to buy?"

Automotive Cloud makes complex financial processes more transparent and simpler for the customer, moving away from opaque financing. Agents assist in tasks like vehicle finance management, loan processing, and collections assistance, which is essential for captive finance arms. The platform also helps customers understand complex terms, addressing queries like, "Tell me what these leasing terms actually mean."

Automotive Cloud’s service features enable organizations to resolve customer issues without wasting team time. Proactive service agents and dynamic vehicle assessments can anticipate needs, providing repair estimates and warranty entitlements before the customer even asks. This allows companies to create a customer for life by validating mechanic recommendations and providing relevant feature upsells. The platform also supports companies in activating new features and recurring revenue through subscriptions.

The transformation to an Agentic Enterprise is an invitation for the automotive industry to move forward faster. Agentforce Automotive is built for high impact, the specific needs of the industry, and individual business success. By embracing the platform, organizations can utilize AI to solve complex problems and deliver exceptional experiences for drivers, partners, and employees.