With the rise of Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay comes the Connected Car. The Internet of Things is charging forward and there are few products that will stand against the tide of becoming “connected” in some way or another. These days, technology can do all sorts of things, but being able to do these things and actually selling units are two different things. The auto industry is one that rarely experiences change, and despite features like camera parking aids and Bluetooth inside of cars, the car is still stuck in the 20th century. Creating the Connected Car however, is driving one of the biggest shake ups in the industry’s history and analysts think that this new type of car is going to change the industry.
In the next four years, Juniper Research is predicting huge growth in the connected car area, and that by 2019, 20% of the car industry will be made up of connected cars. This new M2M market (machine to machine) will equate to $40 Billion in revenue by 2019 as well, doubling the size of the market today. According to thew new research, the US is leading the pack and that Big Data will play a leading role in shaping future products. China is starting to join the fold however, and will soon start to offer connected technologies where the car is concerned as major carriers in the nation start to explore their options. Anthony Cox, author of the new research says that “both India and China are expected to see rapid adoption of smart metering as new metering infrastructure is installed and smart cities are created.”
While the idea of a “smart city” sounds like something out of science fiction, this is exactly where we’re headed. Big Data and IoT will make it easier for cars to talk to traffic lights, your car will talk to your phone and therefore to you and it’ll all be powered by the Internet. Android Auto, which we reviewed a little while ago, is hitting more cars than ever before and will be available in many more models throughout 2016. The future is, as we keep hearing, apparently already here.