Driving the Future: There before you need us
In January, I received a frantic call from a college buddy who’s a senior producer for one of the major cable networks in Washington, DC. He needed my help to create a new dispatch and transportation system to get its reporters, producers, and cameras around the area for its special coverage of the recent presidential inauguration—and we only had a couple days to build it.
By some stroke of luck, we put together a successful 25-vehicle transportation network with only a handful of hiccups. It was a decidedly “by the seat of your pants” affair, cobbled together using walkie-talkies, smartphone apps, and even sticky notes. As I was sitting at the transportation desk wrapping up a 30-hour shift, a single question kept knocking around in my sleep-deprived head: “How does AAA make this look so easy?”
After all, when you request an emergency roadside rescue, everything just works. Your vehicle breaks down, we gather the information and your location, and we get a technician to you as quickly as possible—sometimes within a matter of minutes. As overwhelmed as I was by 400 transportation requests spread out over several days, how is it that AAA Colorado effortlessly dispatches thousands of calls in a single day?
The answer is it only looks effortless. Behind the scenes, we’ve spent decades building a state-of-the-art rescue system that’s so smart, we know where and how people are likely to break down—long before your car sputters to a stop. How? By using a sophisticated, custom data-analysis system that logs all things AAA. At any given moment, we know the real-time locations of all our technicians, the presumable locations where they’ll need to be dispatched, and even the most likely causes of the breakdowns they’ll help fix.
Drawing from mountains of data, we run a complicated computer analysis, and 75 to 85 percent of the time you request our help, we’re able to automatically dispatch the closest technician to you. Even better, we’re able to stage our resources near where we know they’ll be needed. That means we can get to you faster, so you spend less time waiting for help.
It’s the most efficient system we’ve ever had, and it’s only going to keep getting better. We’re committed to building the best emergency roadside rescue system the world has ever seen, just as we’ve done for nearly 100 years. In fact, we continue to roll out new features. Now, when you request service through the AAA Mobile App, at AAA.com/Service, or by choosing the new automated system when you call 800-AAA-HELP, we can automatically send a truck your way without first going through our dispatch center. Sure beats sticky notes and walkie-talkies, huh?
Do you have a comment for Skyler?
Send your compliments, complaints, and car talk items to smckinley@colorado.aaa.com.
