Dearborn, MI, March 11, 2025 — The Auto Club Group (ACG), AAA’s second-largest club in the United States, has partnered with Riptide to revolutionize how roadside assistance is coordinated and delivered. By integrating Riptide’s patented intelligent agent, Ripley, ACG now involves its members in 14 states* throughout the support process — letting them respond directly to notifications or ask questions, while Ripley orchestrates the entire conversation among dispatchers, technicians, and contact center agents. This multi-party collaboration has streamlined dispatch operations and lifted member satisfaction by 4% across six million service calls in 14 states.
“Riptide has truly enhanced our roadside assistance experience,” said Scott VerBracken, Vice President of Automotive Services at The Auto Club Group. “We can finally involve members at scale because Ripley can intelligently handle their replies— whether that’s additional information about their location or questions about the technician’s ETA. Meanwhile, our staff only steps in when Ripley isn’t certain, which has reduced our dispatch handling time by 50% and increased overall member satisfaction.”
Multiparty Conversations That Keep Members Involved
Traditionally, roadside updates flow one way: from a dispatcher or technician to the member. If the member wants to clarify or add details, they often have to wait on hold or start a separate process. Now, with Ripley acting as a digital orchestrator, AAA members in ACG’s 14-state footprint can reply to alerts in real time—knowing that Ripley can manage these inputs intelligently and escalate to humans as needed.
Ripley ensures that all parties (member, dispatcher, technician, and contact center agent) see relevant updates.
Simple questions, like “Are you still with the vehicle?” or “Can you confirm your exact location?” can be handled automatically.
More complex issues, like a request for a different service or a tricky breakdown scenario, are routed to the right resource immediately — no back-and-forth phone calls needed.
This multiparty approach keeps everyone aligned, prevents missed updates, and delivers a consistently smooth experience for members.
Riptide’s Patented LLM Approach
Behind AAA’s success is Riptide’s patented application of large language models (LLMs) to manage complex, multi-party service conversations. Unlike typical chatbots, Ripley applies an LLM’s deep language understanding to account for different roles, motivations, and urgencies in the conversation. Client-specific policies and a digital twin of live service data then provide the real-time context Ripley needs to answer questions or coordinate actions.
“Enterprises can deploy AI faster now because the AI doesn’t have to be perfect,” said Doug Marinaro, CEO and Co-Founder of Riptide. “When Ripley is certain, she’ll respond directly or — if enabled — trigger workflows to update records. If she’s unsure, she asks for help — collaborating with your people and tapping live data. That’s how we avoid misinformation and keep everyone confidently involved in the process.”
This “ask for help” capability safeguards against AI “hallucinations” and ensures members consistently receive timely, accurate responses — freeing up AAA employees to focus on more complex issues rather than routine back-and-forths.
Key Benefits of Riptide’s Deployment at AAA
Member Involvement at Scale: Members can respond to alerts, ask questions, or add info — Ripley handles the conversation, involving the dispatcher if needed.
10x Faster Responses: Quicker answers to member inquiries and faster dispatch decisions.
4% Increase in Member Satisfaction: Reflecting the transparent, interactive nature of the service.
50% Reduction in Dispatch Handling Time: Less manual intervention thanks to intelligent routing and automated responses.
Accurate AI Interactions: By “asking for help,” Ripley avoids misinformation — always delivering correct, context-aware responses.