1 in 5 Will Be in a Connected Car by 2020

According to Gartner 1 in 5 cars will have some form of wireless network connection in 2020.

15:58 30 April 2019

Connected cars are revolutionising the automotive industry and transportation landscapes. So, what exactly is a connected car?

What is a connected car?

Of course, the concept of a connected car, is highly complicated and involves a great number of implications for the automotive and tech industries. To put it simply a “connected car” is a car that connects wirelessly to the Internet of Things. What does this mean? It means sophisticated infotainment systems, application processors and vehicle to vehicle communications for a start. It’s a step towards fully autonomous cars. This means better safety for you and other consumers on our roads. It has been estimated that once cars start driving themselves, traffic fatalities could be reduced by 90% by 2050.

Today’s connected car market

The first Internet car

Back in 2016 Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, introduced its first automobile, the RX5 sport utility vehicle. Made with Chinese carmaker SAIC, Alibaba called it the first “Internet car” in a news release. It runs software developed by Alibaba’s YunOS division to connect with other smart devices. The car retails for just $22,300. In the announcement, Alibaba stated the car will use the company’s ecommerce platform to deliver services including finding parking spaces, locating petrol stations and making restaurant reservations. Drivers will also be able to pay for services from the car using Alipay. As the auto market transitions to self-driving cars, Alibaba wants a piece of the action.

“I think what Google saw and what others see is that the vehicle is the next mobile platform,” said Grant Courville, senior director of product management at QNX. “It’s going to have software and connectivity. I think automakers just a few years ago didn’t realise what they had.”

The connected car is the first step

Car experts agree that the connected car is the first step towards self-driving cars. In 2015 Toyota invested $1 billion in artificial intelligence research.

“It’s moving from the mobile smart phone connectivity to full-car connectivity to the internet,” said Steven Crumb, executive director of Genivi, an open-source infotainment cooperative. “Even though you’ve got Google and others working on the autonomous vehicle, the way to get the autonomous vehicle is through the connected car. That’s the stepping stone to get where we are today to fully autonomous.”

MG Motor to launch Internet car in June

MG Motor teases the launch of MG Hector Internet car and unveils its iSMART infotainment system in India. MG Hector’s infotainment system is a result of collaboration between MG Motor and technology companies including Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, TomTom and Airtel among others. While the iSmart system is rich with features, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new car is its first of a kind connectivity solution. The MG Hector comes equipped with an e-SIM based on IPV6 and supports the 5G network. The technology is set to impact everything from insurance premiums to sub-leasing of cars.

While it’s the first of its kind, industry watchers predict that almost all original equipment manufacturers plan to develop or launch new models with the same technology, which looks to become as common as air bags in the near future.

While we wait, we might just have to make do with our smartphones for now in older cars and used vehicles until the majority of these vehicles hit the market. For now internet-enabled cars are expected only in the top-end of the market but analysts predict that even a higher price tag may not hinder sales.