Feeling Alive? At Home with Mazda’s Autonomous Vehicle Technology

Lora Kirmer

COMM 726 - Contemporary Rhetorical Theory

May 17, 2019

ABSTRACT

Will autonomous vehicle (AV) technology remove the human element from driver’s seat? Consumers who mistrust AV technology cite a loss of control and the lack of driving enjoyment as reasons to not purchase a vehicle equipped with autonomous technology (Abraham et al. 9). Vehicle manufacturer Mazda aims to “keep the fun in driving” by keeping the driver behind the wheel and focusing on the pleasure of movement in a Mazda vehicle. The “Feel Alive” campaign Mazda first introduced in 2018 focuses on award-winning artful, and human-centric design; effortless and joyful driving; and Japanese craftsmanship (MazdaFeelAlive.com). In this essay, I analyze Mazda’s campaign through application of Pflugfelder’s (2018) kinesthetic rhetoric, grounded in Aristotelian techne (31-34). This essay focuses on the “human-centric design” and “effortless and joyful driving” themes presented in Mazda’s “Feel Alive” campaign. Mazda’s rhetoric purports to create a “oneness” between the human driver and nonhuman vehicle technology, so that the human passenger still feels in control while the nonhuman automated system seamlessly runs the show. In particular, Mazda’s campaign merges together themes of AV technology acceptance with the familiarity of a well-known vehicle setup.

INTRODUCTION

The automobile has conceptually evolved multiple times and has entered different gendered spheres since its first mass production. Originally, the automobile existed in the male sphere with a focus on power and speed, then moved to the female sphere when it became the “family vehicle” (Hagman 37). The domestication of the automobile created a nomadic home of sorts (Urry) and an affordance to extend the domestic home outside of a singular lot of land. The vehicle as a man’s device promotes power, control of the road, and speed (Sheller; Barthes). As the vehicle entered the domestic realm, seats elongated to accommodate the family and the steering controls were made to be more comfortable to hold (Laurier and Dant); driving pleasure was not about how fast one could get to a destination but rather about how a leisurely Sunday afternoon could be spent trekking via vehicle to a favorite picnic spot. The vehicle has since become a private space of intimacy, a place for the driver to express themself to the world with how they drive, their vehicle maintenance, and the way they speak of the vehicle to others (Laurier and Dant).

Humans have come to rely and even be comfortable inside the mechanical body of modern-day vehicles. The mobility offered by vehicles gives humans a wider social space and affordance to have many places outside of the home (Urry and Sheller). Driving mostly remains an action in which the human performs control over the mechanical beast. The autonomous vehicle (AV), otherwise known as the driverless or self-driving vehicle, and AV technology provide mobility without the need to be actively present in a driving situation. For some, this is ideal, especially when vehicles are used for commuting. For others, there is a lack of trust in the technology and a disinterest in being a passenger versus an active driver (Abraham et al.). Therefore, automobile manufacturers must introduce the technology in such a way as to appeal to their audience’s need and desire to be in control and derive pleasure from the ride.

I apply Pflugfelder’s kinesthetic rhetoric device in this rhetorical analysis by focusing on the persuasiveness of motion when the human body interacts with a nonhuman vehicle. Specifically, I focus on Mazda’s use of kinesthetic rhetoric, which purports to merge the human and vehicle in an attempt to persuade consumers to trust in AV technology through the comfort and ease of the mobility it offers.

Rationale

This rhetorical analysis adds to the literature of kinesthetic rhetoric and furthers the rhetorical devices used in future studies of transport technology. Additionally, this analysis can support mobilities studies that particularly focus on human motivation to mobilize.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Kinesthetic rhetoric

Kinesthetic rhetoric is described as “an approach to studying and intervening in the development of material movement” (Pflugfelder 34). Material movement, such as a Mazda vehicle in this case, is the motion of an object and its purpose. Kinesthetic rhetoric marries persuasion with material movement to describe how human and nonhuman elements influence persuasion, specifically with materials concerned with updated technology (Pflugfelder 34). Pflugfelder roots kinesthetic rhetoric in Aristotelian techne (45). Two main forms of techne, techne 1 (explicit) and techne 2 (abstract), provide insight on what this concept is. Explicit techne is a precise, teachable, and infallible set of universal techniques used to accomplish something, and abstract techne focuses less on how to accomplish something but rather the knowledge of the relationships between different actants that focus on a specific goal (Pflugfelder 46). Pflugfelder brings to focus the addition of a third techne, called user techne or a techne of navigation (Pflugfelder 105). Aristotle’s work on phronesis is very similar and provides the basis of user techne (Pflugfelder 19). This third techne requires understanding of the combination of three elements: metis, which is immersive intelligence and bodily knowledge; tyche, a confronting chance; and kairos, the limits, that result in setting a body in motion (Pflugfelder 108).

By applying kinesthetic rhetoric to investigate Mazda's 2018 "Feel Alive" campaign, I defend my argument that Mazda is trying to place user techne at the forefront of their campaign and car designs in order to integrate autonomous vehicle (AV) technology into the everyday consumer life. The persuasive messages at the forefront of the campaign are pathos appeals to form a connection between brand and user. At the same time, the vehicle promoted in the campaign, the 2018 Mazda6, is framed in a way to promote its mobility appeal, its techne. As will be explained, the campaign focuses on kinesthetic movement of the human body in its interactions with the Mazda6. The mobility offered by the vehicle can produce a sense of comfortable emotion for the driver. This emotion is a redefinition of the known feeling of driving pleasure.

Driving pleasure

America is a vehicle-centric country. It is not unusual for one person to own more than one vehicle at one time, or multiple throughout their lives, and it is expected that American citizens will earn their driver’s license by age 18 (Twenge). As sociologist Tim Dant states, the car is “a feature of the flow of daily social life that cannot simply be removed or phased out” (75). A vehicle is what takes adults to work and children to school, and all the areas for social life in between. America’s love affair with the vehicle is showcased by the vast road, highway, and interstate systems implemented in even the most remote states. Reliance and dependence on vehicles have created an America that centers its citizens’ lives around mobility ­­– or more specifically, automobility.

There are, understandably, emotional ties to vehicles and to the act of driving in particular. Mimi Sheller describes human feelings about driving as an embodiment of human relationships with material things and the bodily interactions within a material world (223). Automobility represents an effective means to navigate networks of sociability and domestic spaces; thus, we associate the vehicle as a useful and necessary tool to accomplish a satisfying amount of social inclusion (Sheller 230). Not only does the mobility afforded via vehicle provide a function, but it also produces a pleasure. The term driving pleasure has become an abstract term that automobile manufacturers, journalists, and drivers rely on to convey the enjoyment derived from specific vehicle components working harmoniously to produce motion (Hagman).  Driving pleasure is described as the pleasure of having the automobility (Hagman). By taking away the control of human drivers and replacing it with AV technology, the pleasure of driving a vehicle is reduced and a vehicle is then seen for its functionality versus its pleasurability. Mazda, as we will see, has built its brand on the feelings of pleasure and fun consumers derive from Mazda vehicles, thus putting driving pleasure first (even if humans are not the drivers).

AV technology

            The birth of AV technology can be argued to have started when engineer Ralph Teetor equipped the 1958 Chrysler Imperial with the first version of cruise control (Pflugfelder). Cruise control allows the driver to maintain a specific speed without constant manipulation of brake and gas pedals. Since its conception, AV technology has been met with a mix of acceptance and denial. In a 2018 cross-national study, countries with the highest GDP per capita, like the United States, reported lower mean general acceptance score of driverless vehicles than countries with the lowest GDP per capita (Nordhoff, Winter, Kyriakidis, van Arem, and Happee). Loss of control, lack of trust, and belief that AV technology will not function correctly were concerns commonly expressed by U.S. citizens when asked whether or not they would purchase a driverless vehicle (Abraham et al.). However, AV technology is the way of the future with brands like Ford no longer offering non-AV technology equipped vehicles on the market. For a smaller brand like Mazda, known for affordable, sporty cars not often equipped with the latest AV technology, this shift in the automobile industry has demanded a response from Mazda’s U.S. branding.

Mazda – a brief history

            Mazda began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Corporation, founded in 1920 in Japan, and opened its North American Operations in 1970 in Seattle, Washington, under the name of Mazda Motor of North America, Inc. (MazdaUSA.com). Mazda is known for their Miata MX-5, first debuted in 1989, redesigned in 1998, and still highly sought after today. The Miata MX-5 is a small, sporty car easily sought after for its affordable price, light weight, and easy handling that instantly categorize the vehicle as the everyman’s sportscar. Mazda rides the success of the Miata MX-5 to this day and is still seen as an affordable company that excels in integrating Japanese design in the U.S. Market (Connolly).

            Mazda’s first global campaign, “Zoom-Zoom,” hit the market in 2000. The “Zoom-Zoom” campaign leans into Mazda’s character of a fun company with compact, sporty vehicles accompanied by a small price tag. Mazda North American Operations continues to evolve their engine performance and ride the success of their vehicle designs in the American market. In an interview with Masamachi Kogai, president of Mazda Motor Corporation in 2017, Kogai insists that electric and driverless vehicles are just “hype” (qtd. in O’Grady). Kogai is adamant that the focus of Mazda is sustainability, and that driverless vehicles serve a purpose as more of a co-pilot to human drivers rather than as a means of mobility (O’Grady). In an official statement made to CNBC in 2017, Mazda Motor Corporation announced the integration of AV technology will be in every one of their vehicles by 2025 (CNBC).

            In a March 28, 2018 press release, Mazda North American Operations announced their new brand platform “Feel Alive.” In the release, Chief Marketing Officer Dino Bernacchi stated, “Mazda has always engineered to a feeling. We want to build an emotional connection with our fans by making them feel something profound” (qtd. In MazdaUSA.com). With this pathos-driven appeal to consumers, we enter the current rhetorical analysis.

DO YOU FEEL IT?

Context

            Mazda’s 2018 “Feel Alive” brand platform officially launched on April 2, 2018, during the NCAA men’s basketball championship (Jibrell). The campaign simultaneously launched online at MazdaFeelAlive.com. At the time of this essay, the site greets visitors with a still image from the 60-second commercial spot that links directly to the video that aired on April 2, 2018. Underneath the video link are six tiles in a two-by-three grid that each display an element of the campaign. From left to right, top to bottom, they read “Ingenious Solutions,” “Building A Legacy of Award-Winning Design,” “Effortless Joyful Driving,” “Human Centric Design,” “Artful Design,” and “Japanese Mastery.” As the mouse travels across the tiles, each title fades back and a one-sentence introduction to the theme comes into focus. For example, as the mouse scrolls across the “Human Centric Design” tile, the following text replaces the tile: “Mazda obsesses over comfort, control and responsiveness – and it all comes down to human-centric design. Closely studying human traits and being inspired by human abilities is how Mazda optimizes the driving experience for real-world.” Below the sentence, a bold “Read More” link invites the reader to explore that particular element more in-depth. This rhetorical analysis focuses specifically on the elements of “effortless joyful driving” and “human-centric design” and the role these elements play in creating comfort between the driver and AV technology components.

A rhetorical analysis of “Feel Alive”

“The feel of the car, both inside and outside, moving or stationary, sensuously shapes and materially projects how motorists feel not only about cars but also about themselves and within themselves” (Sheller 225).

What does it mean to “Feel Alive”? Motion of a body through the body’s own inertia can be considered an act of being alive, because dead creatures and inanimate objects do not move of their own accord. Vehicles, for the most part, are inanimate objects that only move when the living human acts on it or gives the engine life through action. As noted above, the vehicle is what shuttles humans to and from social activities, across geographical lands, or simply to the store and back home. All of these locations are necessary to provide humans with “aliveness,” because we are social creatures: We seek livable areas, and our bodies require sustenance found in grocery stores to continue to thrive. Our aliveness puts the vehicle into motion; essentially, we as human actors give the vehicle life. A mechanic is similar to a doctor in the sense that they perform surgery to keep a vehicle running. Mazda flips the script that humans-create-aliveness by promoting their 2018 Mazda6 (and all subsequent models henceforth) as the object that will make the human “Feel Alive,” thus promoting a vehicle-creates-aliveness perspective.

In the “effortless and joyful driving” theme of the “Feel Alive” campaign, there is an overabundance of the term “oneness” as a description of the relationship between driver and vehicle. By Mazda’s definition, “oneness” is a sense felt by the driver when interacting with their vehicle (MazdaFeelAlive.com). The sensation is brought on by the vehicle’s responses to human input, thus feeling “like a natural and intuitive extension of the driver—it becomes effortless” (MazdaFeelAlive.com). Takeo Kijima, former program manager of Mazda Japan, characterizes cars in their most basic sense, a tool capable to move beyond physical limits of the human body, but also believes “the car should feel like an extension of your being” (qtd. In MazdaFeelAlive.com). Sheller explains the feeling of being one with the car happens through bodily responses to being inside of and using a vehicle. “Human bodies physically respond to the thrum of an engine, the gentle glide through a gearbox, or the whoosh of effortless acceleration, and in cases the driver becomes ‘one’ with the car ...” (Sheller 228). I consider the characterization of the driver-vehicle relationship of “oneness” as a cyborg not unlike the one created by Donna Haraway, where agency of the driver and activity of the automobile mesh and become indistinguishable. Viewed through the perspective of vehicle-creates-aliveness, Mazda thrusts the vehicle as the center of the cyborg; the engine is the heart and lungs, the steering column and wheels are the arms and legs, and the human element in the seat is brought to life by their motion.

Mazda promotes “effortlessness” as an essential part of “oneness” between vehicle and human with phrases as:

·      “When you take away the stresses of driving, you are more likely to feel a sense of effortless flow when behind the wheel”

·      “Being able to focus on the purity of driving can put the driver into a higher state, which is refreshing, inspiring and can make any drive more enjoyable, no matter the destination”

·      “Not only should your car respond perfectly to driving input, but every system should be intuitive, instilling a sense of harmony and confidence, heightening your state of being through an elevated driving experience”

“Effortlessness” requires stress reduction and a sense of ease for the driver to interact with the vehicle. Driving pleasure, by definition, maintains a hard line between driver and vehicle and is the feeling the driver feels through interaction with the vehicle. By making a vehicle that feels like an extension of one’s arm, the driver will not have to consciously be in the moment of driving but can subconsciously control the vehicle – or what aspects are not controlled by AV technology– and enjoy the motion instead of the action of creating motion. This pathos appeal to the consumer focuses on the pleasure one derives from the arousal of being in the vehicle, but not necessarily from the complete control of vehicle.  Hence, the transportation becomes a persuasive, bodily experience. This experience is expressed in another major theme in the campaign, “human-centric design.” The campaign frames “human-centric design” as

“The ideal driving position is one in which the body closely mimics its natural state, the position it would form in zero-gravity, as it allows you to move quicker and more accurately. Further, Mazda engineers studied human walking patterns to find that the human spine forms a natural S-shape curve. This lead [sic] to designing seats that support this posture, thus allowing the driver to use their natural balance ability to help achieve a comfortable, relaxing driving experience.” (MazdaFeelAlive.com)

Note that driving is characterized as an experience, not an action. This framing of driving as an experience of bodily motion is an appeal to the audience in the vein of user techne. The design of the seats beckons riders to sit in the vehicle and be comforted by the interior design, and trust that the vehicle will be navigated to a specific location in ease and style. The technology of the vehicle, however, is designed to take the human element out of actively controlling the driving situation. Mazda even goes so far as to frame control as a feeling for the human driver to experience in their description of G-Vectoring Control technology (GVC). GVC reduces the need for large amounts of steering wheel motion, happening “automatically and seamlessly, so the driver feels confident and in control” (MazdaFeelAlive.com). In sum, the campaign proposes the idea of a driving as an experience rather than driving as an action, therefore using motion and mobility as the persuasive device to entice consumers.

“Human-centric design” puts consumers in the mindset that the vehicle and all of its components are designed around the human element with the statement, “Mazda engineers have created a seamless connection between car and driver that makes it feel like the car is not even there” (MazdaFeelAlive.com). Through the removal of the vehicle, Mazda purports to remove the interaction and clear definition between human and vehicle, human driver and nonhuman driver - yet another example of the cyborg. However, by making invisible the vehicle, the rhetoric is posing AV technology as secondary to the superior human body and it only serves the purpose to move humans.  This domination of technology is an example of Haraway’s perspectives on cyborgs, one as a complete control of the world grid and another as a lived social and bodily reality in which we are comfortable with organic-inorganic unity (122). I argue that “human-centric design” is a response to the second of the perspectives in an attempt to further the first perspective. Research shows our unwillingness to give up control and live in an autonomously automated world. Yet Mazda, perhaps unintentionally, furthers the second perspective through the campaign rather than counters it by merging AV technology with a familiar vehicle set-up and therefore eases its passengers concerns about technology control and trust in its performance. “Human-centric design” as a tool of kinesthetic rhetoric attempts to persuade the human driver to feel at ease and in control in the comfortable interior of the Mazda6 while the unseen engineering of the vehicle controls a vast majority of the driving action. Is the design truly “human-centric” if the purpose of the design is to make the human so comfortable that they forget the AV technology navigating the situation? Of course, we are already so at home with cruise control, the first AV technology, that we consider it a central part of automobility.

CONCLUSION

Mazda’s “Feel Alive” campaign demonstrates kinesthetic rhetoric that can only be brought forth in a world of automobility and by way of devices that persuade users to move through social spaces. The campaign presents technology as subordinate to human control yet also as a cyborg of human-vehicle mobility. The rhetoric of the campaign asks consumers to not only imagine a vehicle that is so human-centric that the vehicle ceases to exist, but also to trust the invisible AV technology of the vehicle to perform its tasks seamlessly and perfectly.

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