Barry Hillier, CEO and co-founder of Auto Agentic AI, outlines a seven-stage framework for AI maturity in his book, From the Transactional Age to the Intelligence Age: The automotive playbook for rebuilding organizations around AI, which examines how dealerships move from using tools to building what he calls “intelligence architecture.”
The framework, also reflected in Auto Agentic’s “Automotive Intelligence Pyramid,” maps how organizations evolve from basic awareness to fully connected, system-level intelligence.
In his book, Hillier emphasizes the model is not a checklist but a developmental path. Each stage builds capabilities the next depends on, with a key inflection point at Level 4. Most organizations are currently at Level 3 but are circling Level 4. Hillier suggests that early adopters will be the first to break through.
1. Awareness: “AI equals chat”
AI is introduced through basic chatbot interactions, building familiarity but delivering limited operational impact.
2. Productivity: “AI as my personal assistant”
AI is used to accelerate tasks, support content generation, communication and individual efficiency.
3. Functional intelligence: “AI understands my department”
AI begins to understand specific dealership functions, such as sales or BDC operations, and can support or partially automate those roles, but remains siloed within individual teams rather than connected across the organization.
4. Connected dealership intelligence: “AI understands how we work as a system”
AI connects previously siloed systems, linking conversations, leads and customer history across the dealership.
“This is the architectural break,” Hillier writes. “Everything below this stage can be built through tools. Everything above it must be built through design.”
5. Group/multi-rooftop intelligence: “AI understands performance across locations”
AI expands visibility across dealer groups, enabling performance benchmarking and coordination between rooftops.
6. OEM-dealer network intelligence: “AI understands the ecosystem”
AI operates across OEM and dealer networks, aligning data, strategy and performance across the broader automotive ecosystem.
7. Agentic ecosystem intelligence: “AI works with the industry continuously”
At the highest level, AI acts autonomously across the ecosystem, continuously optimizing decisions, workflows and outcomes.
Hillier said many dealerships are still in the early stages of adoption, with the opportunity ahead centred on integrating AI more deeply across the business.
