HFT Stuttgart's Patrick Planing on why good technology still fails

Patrick Planing, a professor of business psychology at Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences (HFT Stuttgart) and former innovation manager at Mercedes-Benz, argues that the success or failure of new technologies hinges less on technical readiness and more on human factors—specifically how people feel about using the technology and whether they perceive a reason to change their behavior. Drawing from his experience with innovations like autonomous vehicles, air taxis, and delivery robots, Planing emphasizes that social norms, risk perception, and lived experience critically influence technology adoption. He highlights that engineering excellence alone rarely ensures acceptance, as technologists often underestimate the complexity of human behavior and social dynamics. Planing’s insights stem from his early work at Mercedes-Benz, where he noticed a disconnect between available advanced automotive technologies and actual user adoption. Despite technical capabilities such as autonomous driving features, many drivers preferred the sensory experience of manual driving and found automated systems unappealing. This realization led him to focus on understanding what mobility solutions people genuinely want, rather than assuming