As you saw in the first installment of this blog, the ultimate use-case of connected car concept is an autonomous/self-driving car.

However, until that becomes a reality, there are lots of interesting use cases that are being driven by connected car technologies. I have listed down the top 5 use cases that will enhance our day-to-day driving experience:

1)     Reliable Navigation : With 4G/LTE technology becoming a norm in cars (through either built-in or brought-in connectivity), real time map download, live traffic updates and automatic re-routing for quickest path is what consumers are expecting from their navigation systems. Taking it a step further is opening up of IVI SDKs that will drive accelerated adoption of location based services through context aware applications. Imagine a situation where your navigation app automatically finds a parking spot near your destination and even books it for you while you drive away. Wouldn’t that be great!

2)     Enhanced Safety and security: Safety and security is one of the most important factors driving purchase decisions for users. While basic telematics services such as roadside assistance and automatic crash notification are a norm these days, the emergence of V2V/V2I (Vehicle to Vehicle and Vehicle to Infrastructure driven by DSRC 802.11p) technologies is driving innovations in this area. These technologies, that allow vehicles to talk to each other and to infrastructure such as traffic signals and toll plazas, will drive next generation of security features in connected cars.

3)     Infotainment and communication: While hands free telephony and local media playback were a norm in yesterday’s vehicles, today vehicles come equipped with 4G/LTE connectivity enabling drivers to access any media. The utility is even bigger for rear seat passengers who can stream HD videos, play online games and stay connect through social media platforms using rear seat entertainment systems in their vehicles.

4)     Proactive diagnostics: Connected car technologies are driving a shift in diagnostics from reactive to proactive decisions. The cars of tomorrow will generate millions of data points, providing consumers, OEMs and authorized third parties with information using which they can predict failures or provide value added services to consumers. Imagine that your car automatically detects an imminent failure, informs the service center, books an appointment for servicing, and who knows in future drives itself to the service station autonomously. Scenarios such as these are not too far from becoming reality.

5)     Remote Applications: Connected car technologiesopen up another interesting use case of remotely controlling vehicles using smart devices. Remote applications will allow you to access your car from anywhere, remotely switch on the AC/heating, turn on your favorite music, send navigation directions based on your calendar updates and so on.

We are already seeing some manifestations of these use cases in the vehicles being launched by major OEMs such as BMW, GM, Audi, Chrysler etc. However, there are several challenges that plaque the connected car concept from becoming a holistic reality. What are these challenges and what kind of ecosystem is evolving to drive the proliferation and adoption of connected car technologies? I will cover this in the third and the final installment of this blog.

The third and final part of this blog will cover the challenges and evolving ecosystem driving adoption and proliferation of connected car technologies.

Authored by Sushmita Sharma