Report: 150 million cars will be connected to the Internet by 2020

Finally, it looks like Disney won’t be the only place you’ll find “talking cars.” In fact, vehicles will be among the billions of “things” Internet-enabled by 2020, a Computerworld article has revealed.

In just five years, nearly 150 million vehicles will be connected via Wi-Fi, while 60% to 75% of them will be capable of consuming, creating and sharing web-based data. This enhanced connectivity will allow carmakers to modify their existing business model from simply hardware to tech innovators that draw income from mobile apps. In order to do that, Computerworld notes that vehicle manufacturers will need to join forces with tech heavyweights like Google, Apple and Samsung.

“To facilitate that kind of shift, connected-vehicle leaders in automotive organizations need to partner with existing ecosystems like Android Auto or Apple CarPlay that can simplify access to and integration of general mobile applications into the vehicle,” Gartner Analyst Thilo Koslowski explained in a recent report.

According to a new study by Allied Market Research, the global connected cars market is forecasted to surpass $141 billion over the same five year period, growing at a CAGR of 32.7% between 2014 and 2020. With North America garnering a significant portion of the market share, the  availability of faster communication networks, enhanced driver experiences, advanced connectivity solutions and a user friendly interface will all help drive (no pun intended) the industry.

Throughout the next couple of years, we can expect to see a majority of in-vehicle infotainment systems capable of smartphone integration. Indeed, Gartner predicts that 58% of U.S. and 53% of German vehicle owners want tech firms, not car companies, to take the in-vehicle technology steering wheel.

“By 2018, two automakers will have announced plans to become technology companies and expand their connected-vehicle value experiences to other industries and devices. And by 2020, at least one auto company will achieve 10% of its total revenues from connected mobility and service offerings.”

As the amount of information being fed into in-car head units and telematics systems continues to grow, Gartner believes that tomorrow’s vehicles will need to be able to capture, handle and share not only internal systems status and location data, but changes in its surroundings all in real-time.

“Ultimately, your car will become just another part of your mobile data plan.”

The latest study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that the American government is also looking forward to mandate the use of M2M connectivity solutions into the vehicles. In the years to come, Asia-Pacific could potentially become a prominent automobile market for connected cars.

By 2020, Allied Market Research says both integrated and embedded solutions will be amongst the most popular connectivity offerings in the connected car market, and combined, will account for 80% of the entire industry.

“The increasing importance of human-machine interface (HMI) and cloud-supported user experiences in cars will shift the industry’s R&D focus to new technology and content innovations such as gesture and mood sensing, consumer behavior analysis, and vehicle- and customer-centric services,” Computerworld writes.

Voice-activated apps, in-vehicle cameras and heads-up displays (HUDs) will be key to achieving the safe use of mobile technology in both cars and trucks alike. In the future, apps will be tailored to in-vehicle services, such as scheduling service appointments, driver-related content such as real-time navigation updates, and streaming music and video services — and even the ability to shop online or find and then pay for parking online.

Back at Electronica 2014, Atmel Senior Vice President Rob Valiton explored the ways in which the Internet of Things will affect the auto market, citing OnStar as just one way the IoT has already entered our cars.

“3,000 messages [being sent] per second represents a lot of challenges to the industry, and we here at Atmel plan on solving them.”

 

Yes, wearable apps are on the way

Writing for ComputerWorld, Matt Hamblen reports that an apps shortage has been a “major shortfall” plaguing many wearable devices. As Hamblen notes, some smartwatches might have only 15 to 20 apps – and often require Bluetooth to connect with a nearby smartphone.

“Compare that number to the 1 million-plus apps in Apple’s App Store or Google Play for smartphones and you begin to see the challenge,” wrote Hamblen. “Analysts expects not only an explosion of wearable devices in the next three years, but an explosion of mobile apps of all kinds.”

Indeed, Gartner has predicted that wearable devices will drive half of all app interactions by 2017, a projection reinforced by the flurry of wearable devices showcased at CES 2014 earlier this month in Las Vegas.

“The level of use of wearable apps is pretty nominal today,” Gartner analyst Brian Blau told ComputerWorld. “But the new cadre of smartwatches shown at CES and things pinned to clothes [or other devices indicates] it is safe to say that there will soon be a way to interact, through a mobile app, that’s in lieu of almost any other way of interacting, including the mobile Web or the desktop Web.”

Blau also confirmed that virtually all vendors are choosing mobile apps to interact with wearable devices.

“Apps are an obvious and convenient platform to enable great products and services to be developed. Our forecast on app usage is based on the basic trends of how many wearables will be out there and basic metrics around app interaction,” he added. “A good portion of what people are going to do will be based on some type of data that originated from a point in the past from a wearable device… Developers will follow the money.”