Autonomous Services: The Evolution of Services Through Intelligent Vehicles

The emergence of intelligent vehicles brings unique opportunities for the service industry. This study introduces the concept of autonomous services, a new service paradigm, and autonomous services systems, in which intelligent vehicles are vital enabling technology. Specifically, autonomous services aim to minimize unnecessary human participation and effort in the service process by leveraging intelligence for service delivery, rather than relying on simple stimulus-response or rule-based program behavior. This letter reports on the first Decentralized and Hybrid Workshop (DHW) on autonomous services, aiming to reduce the cost of human labor and improve the quality and efficiency of service while tackling the challenges posed by a shrinking workforce. The introduction of intelligent vehicles enhances the capability of the service systems, while also significantly increasing complexity. To address the challenges associated with complexity, the Systems Engineering (SE) approach is indispensable. The Requirements-Functional-Logical-Physical (RFLP) framework can implement Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) and help researchers and managers to understand the autonomous services system more comprehensively, so as to better operate and manage it. We substitute "Implementation" for "Physical" in this research to define and elaborate on the autonomous services system. Finally, we outline the potential research opportunities within the autonomous services system.