AI in transportation: Benefits, use cases + what’s next

The impacts of AI reach all kinds of transportation businesses by making service more convenient and accurate for customers. Whether they need to add a bag to their trip at the last minute or request a refund for a pair of tickets, AI can provide personalized service that helps build customer trust.

AI in transportation is the solution to achieve efficiency and strengthen the customer experience (CX) for more satisfied and loyal customers. Let’s take a look at some AI benefits, use cases, and implementation tips for travel and transportation businesses.

More in this guide:

• AI in transportation market overview
• Top benefits of AI in transportation
• Use cases for AI in transportation
• 5 tips to implement an AI solution for your transportation business
• Future predictions for AI in transportation
• Frequently asked questions
• Transform your transportation CX with Zendesk AI

AI in transportation market overview

The AI market for travel and transportation is growing rapidly—but that growth is nothing new. AI-driven CX has been a part of the transportation industry for years. Globally, the AI market in transportation was valued at $3.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to continue growing to more than $21 billion by 2033, according to Market.Us. AI in the workplace helps companies help more customers, but it also causes customer experiences to evolve.

In the Zendesk AI-powered CX Report 2024, we found that 86 percent of CX leaders expect CX to radically change over the next three years thanks to the innovations that AI helps usher in. At the same time, 78 percent believe that AI will make or break businesses—and that’s no different in transportation, where customer experiences need to be fast and accurate to keep up with different traveler schedules and needs. Businesses need to know the benefits and use cases to understand how they can apply AI to their operations and deliver more efficient, effective service.

Top benefits of AI in transportation

When AI meets customer service teams, support for travelers becomes faster, smarter, more secure, and more widely available. Here are the top benefits of AI for transportation customer service.

Automates customer service for 24/7 issue resolution

In transportation and travel, time is always of the essence. Customers rely on support teams to respond to inquiries as soon as they submit them, and they want more than to send an email and wait for a response. AI can make round-the-clock service a reality with AI agents, which are intelligent bots that help customers find information fast. They step in to resolve queries, suggest relevant information, and even manage booking elements like baggage or contact information.

With AI automation, this service is also fast, with each inbound customer input triggering an instant response. And by integrating AI with every customer-facing channel, companies can ensure customers can access the help they need whenever—and wherever—they need it.

Enables more process automation with data-driven insights

With AI agents handling customer requests, support agents gain access to more customer data than ever. That’s because AI data analysis can recognize customer sentiment, intent, and language to detect the appropriate response to an inquiry. With that information, AI can even provide suggested responses for agents to speed up service. Additionally, CX leaders benefit from reporting features that gather these insights for better decision-making, such as if certain elements of the booking process are slowing customers down.

Ensures customer data is secure with encryption

Customers traveling anywhere in the world need to provide highly sensitive information for their accounts, tickets, and more. Transportation companies need strong customer data protection measures to ensure that information is under lock and key and not at risk from unauthorized access.

AI-powered CX systems can automatically encrypt data, making it difficult for hackers to intercept or decipher. Additionally, AI can detect and prevent suspicious activity, like unauthorized travel account login attempts, and help verify the accuracy of a customer’s login information.

Use cases for AI in transportation

Travelers can use AI to complete various tasks or help them with services like bookings, verification, and more. Here are some of the top use cases.

Managing and updating booking information

Travel plans change, and when they do, it’s important to make it as frictionless as possible for customers to modify their plans. AI helps transportation companies step in quickly to review booking details, manage booking information, and even change plans entirely if necessary. Customers can reach out to AI agents that can help cancel or change flights—delivering immediate, personalized answers and helping process any refunds or additional fees that apply to the change. Travel businesses can use a bot builder to guide the direction of these AI agent conversations so they’re accurate and consistent.

Adding baggage to a reservation

When customers need to add luggage to their travel reservation, they’re probably used to doing so at the airport or train station at the helm of a long line that could cause them to be late. Enter AI to instantly address their worries by checking the baggage allowances for specific trips in real time and updating the customer accordingly. If the customer can add a bag, whether for free or with an additional fee, an AI agent will update them and walk them through the process.

Verifying users and email addresses

Real-time verification is critical for travelers who need account access on the go. If a traveler starts a chat and isn’t able to access the information they need, they might grow frustrated because they need to navigate away from the chat and log in on a separate window. Instead, AI verifies that a customer signed in via a conversation window—then, AI can provide personalized support for a better conversational experience.

Merging duplicate support tickets

Even on mundane, slow days, but especially during busy travel times like holiday weekends, high request volumes can inundate ticketing systems and slow down agents in responding to customers. This causes frustration on both ends. Avoid that with AI that can label and tag tickets and merge duplicate ones. This means tickets are more efficiently and effectively categorized, customers get faster, more consistent responses, and agents don’t have to waste time clearing their ticket backlogs of duplicates.

Requesting refunds

Of course, some travel plans fall through. Sometimes, customers need refunds for trips that were changed or canceled entirely. Suppose the customer’s plans change, and they must reschedule their flight. In that case, AI can guide them through modifying their reservation and adjusting the cost as necessary. If an issue requires ticket escalation for a human support agent to address the issue, AI can quickly and easily do that, too, avoiding delays and further frustration.

5 tips to implement an AI solution for your transportation business

AI customer service is helping the travel and transportation industries elevate traveler experiences. Consider these five implementation tips when forming your own AI strategy.

1. Rev your engine with the simplest use cases first

Start your AI application with high-volume cases that present clear, simple use cases for automation or self-service. These should be simple use cases at first, like any frequently asked questions your agents have macros for or ones that have answers in your help center. Typically, any repetitive, time-consuming task that doesn’t require significant human intervention is ripe for AI use.

Once you discover initial use cases that work, you can start to leverage AI for more CX success.

2. Test new routes with a few use cases at a time

Once you’ve established a foundation with simple use cases, experiment with more complex scenarios to learn how AI affects your business and customers. Gradually introduce new use cases—like allowing customers to update billing information, add a bag, or change a flight—and stand back to watch their effect on efficiency and customer satisfaction (CSAT).

Take Edmunds, a leading online vehicle information and shopping resource, as an example. They noticed that customers reach out with increasing frequency when they’re in the middle of the car-buying process. Justin Smith, manager of the live help program at Edmunds.com, says that with AI-driven chat, that support volume is no longer a worry: “It’s a lot easier now to help more customers. The ability to transfer chats between Live Help Specialists, or over to the customer experience team, has also been important for achieving faster resolution times and increased overall satisfaction.”

3. Navigate your way to better performance with clear goals

Clearly define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you want to improve with AI. This probably includes CSAT but could also include response times, cost savings, or service level agreements (SLAs) for operational efficiency. For example, a rental car website might notice that their CSAT drops when response times are over three minutes, so they adopt a KPI of keeping response time under 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

4. Keep your expectations grounded, not stalled

Transportation needs to flow; otherwise, it will stall in gridlock. Similarly, you need to communicate your expectations with your team and update them on any progress or changes to your AI strategy. This helps maintain realistic expectations about the AI that your team can communicate to customers if needed. By setting clear goals and giving regular updates, you can build more trust and maintain momentum during the implementation process.

5. Get regular tune-ups with training for AI tools

Your team likely won’t get much out of new tools without the necessary resources and training to use them effectively. Ongoing support helps your people understand new AI capabilities and leverage them to improve service. With AI quality assurance (QA), you gain access to insights from 100 percent of customer conversations to spot opportunities to improve.

Future predictions for AI in transportation

Even though AI in transportation has been around for a while, it stands to get better and better over time with each new application. A few predictions for the future of travel-focused AI include:

• Traffic assessment to guide customers to obstacle-free routes with the assistance of AI that takes over navigation controls
• Accident detection to alert relevant authorities about traffic incidents and speed up response times, removing the need for travelers to initiate contact in an emergency
• Travel delay predictions to keep customers in the know with real-time info and accurate predictions that help them plan their itineraries
• License plate recognition to facilitate less-cumbersome management of toll roads and parking facilities.

Despite the many possibilities that the future of travel-focused AI foretells, one thing is for certain: AI will continue to make traveling more efficient and less frustrating.

Frequently asked questions

Transform your transportation CX with Zendesk AI

AI for transportation is a transformative solution with powerful capabilities to deliver enhanced customer experiences that improve satisfaction and loyalty. With AI-driven insights, transportation businesses can optimize bookings, improve support, and personalize experiences to leave lasting impressions on travelers.

With transportation CX software, businesses can deliver personalized experiences before, during, and after a trip.