The Connected Car is a game changer in the automotive world. The car brings out new technologies that push innovations to its heights. The main aim behind the “connected car” is to offer the highest degree of personalization in designing “a car for an individual and not for the masses” as Rich Stomp, IBM’s managing director remarked. Below are some of the expected features of the future connected car.
The future connected car will stretch personalization to a higher level by enabling owners to use apps in controlling their vehicles, in addition to communicating with much higher speeds than the current available technologies. Splint Velocity a new mobile integration solution using the IBM MessageSight technology will push personalization of connected cars to new levels. The Sprint Velocity technology is a communication architecture that uses smartphone, tablets and devices to communicate through the cloud infrastructure. Though there are similar technologies in existence today, the Splint velocity will drastically reduce the time taken to communicate with a vehicle based on sensors to below 60 seconds. The new technology will improve on speed and accuracy of delivering information in enhancing the experience of the user. Moreover, the technology will display preferred drive routes and location tracking in much less time
The future of telematics will allow drivers of connected cars to pay insurance on pay-as -you drive basis only. Insurance companies will be required to access monitoring devices that detail the driving history of a car and using such data to offer required covers. A research by SBD forecasts that there will be more than 19 million connected cars globally by 2017. In response to the high number of connected cars, insurance companies are expected to design policies based on telematics in vehicles. More of the insurance innovations are expected across US and Europe where insurance companies are more proactive in design new covers based on the customer needs. Almost 75% of the subscribers according to the SBD study may come from Italy and UK alone.
The future of connected cars will have owners using specialized apps to manage all functions in their cars and carry out diagnostics with their Smartphone and tablets by using apps. Chevy is currently undertaking a research on use of EcoHub app in their Volt model. With the app, users will check their vehicle’s charging status and will compare the car’s charging rates to energy consumption. The app will allow charging at the lowest rates though one will need to have internet connections.
In the future, connected cars will communicate readily with the environment in car-to-car communication and car-to-infrastructure communication. It will be possible for a vehicle to collect environmental details as you drive. The technology will also prevent accidents since cars will detect one another and obstacles from a distance. This will be more suited to driverless cars, a technology that is currently under consideration. The SBD research approximated that by 2018, the connected car market may hit the $53 billion worth. It is expected that more innovations will sprout based on navigation, security of vehicles and locking /unlocking mechanisms all linked to mobile devices.
Another technology in the future cars will be integrated mechanisms to ensure driver concentration and driver assisted technologies. John Quain a renowned New York Times editor hosted a panel to deliberate on the question ” how can data collected in automobile help in saving lives ?” to deal with driver distortion , the panel with members form NVIDIA , Pioneer and Nuance hinted on the new mechanism to limit driver distractions. The “importance of making a car as a sensor” was widely seen as a plausible one. There are plans to have the future car sense the behavior of a driver and then activate integrated assisted-driving mechanisms to prevent any possibility of an accident.
According to Peter Mahoney the Nuance Marketing executive, “a connected experience rich in information which is ultimately hands and eyes free is the way to go on how cars will work in the future.” In addition, GM chief Executive Aakerson explained, “there is an irresistible thirst f or staying connected into the future.” Consequently, the connected car will be designed to connect automatically to the internet for emails, navigation routes, scheduling maintenance services among other hands free operations. This will be achieved through apps that are currently being developed in the Silicon Valley. The new hands free technology will enrich the experience of users to unimaginable levels.
