Autonomous cars will completely transform our driving habits, the transportation industry and society as a whole. Not only will the ability to hail a car to your door...
The era of smart and connected cars is here
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As the automotive industry competes to release the most advanced, connected car they can, Damien Stephens takes a look at the challenges and opportunities there are for retrofitting older models.
What kind of car do you drive? A Prius, Focus or maybe a Golf? Perhaps you’re on first-name terms and prefer to refer to your ride as Pete, Freddy or Gerry? Regardless of whether you find rechristening your wheels quirky or cringeworthy, a 2018 survey by the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency found that nearly 30% of drivers have given their car a nickname. While Brits might be more likely to name their cars than drivers in the US or India, it does show that some people treat their cars almost like big, mechanical pets.
That might sound like a lot, but it’s only 20% of the planet’s total fleet, meaning more cars may well have nicknames than IoT capabilities. For maximising the wider impact of IoT, a lack of connected cars could become a problem. Many of the wider"Ovum predicts that there will be 1.5 billion cars on the world’s roads by 2022, with 300 million of them boasting different connected features."

Given the high proportion of older vehicles on the roads, it will be a challenge to equip them with IT connectivity. Vehicle manufacturers and more importantly local dealers, could both be well-placed to install the necessary SIM cards and sensors in cars that were originally built without them, ensuring that everything works holistically. However, this could also pave the way for new dedicated connectivity equipment installers. Such specialist businesses could also offer other value-added services and expertise, including apps for diagnostics or geo-located breakdown and repair assistance. Once a previously unconnected vehicle has been given a new lease of life with IoT, drivers and passengers could soon be looking for ways to take advantage of their car’s new data-enabled capabilities. The average connected car generates around 4TB of data each day, and it’s not just used to help the traffic flow in your local city centre."If connectivity and sensors could be retrofitted to a higher number of older cars, the much-talked-about vision of a truly smart cities and connected car ecosystems could become a reality for more people around the world."
They can also collect data on car usage and driver behaviour, which in turn helps with usage based insurance"Onboard sensors can capture data to monitor road and driving conditions to inform other road users of areas to avoid and alert local authorities to highways that are most in need of attention."

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