Connected Cars – India’s Automobile Future
Intelligent Automation is rapidly changing the face of technology as it encroaches every sphere of life while leading us towards a new promising future. Industrialists and businesses sensing this opportunity have started making fast moves to tap this potential. And are all set to drive this change with the introduction of smart devices and technologies.
Integration of automation with the automotive industry is the latest talk of the mill with its potential still untapped at various levels. Sensing this nascent field, automakers have started to integrate IoT and connected services inside vehicle design, and internal user interface in the automotive.
Keeping up with the latest trend, India’s automotive industry has also made significant developments in connected services for the Future of Connected Cars in India.
Connectivity features in the automobile industry are going to redefine our relationships with our cars. Since the rise of ‘Apps’ transformed cell phones into versatile devices with unexpected capabilities similarly, the connectivity features can be seen as total disruptors with their introduction in vehicles.
Nonetheless, India is a unique market wherein rules followed globally, often do not work in the Indian context. Hence, the Future of Connected Cars in India is set for a different challenge to conquer.
With this in mind, the Future of Connected Cars in India largely depends on the people’s mindset and preferences to adopt these features. But before in further details, let’s understand the meaning behind connected cars and the benefits of their services.
Exploring Connected Cars
A connected car can be defined as a car that can communicate with other vehicles or systems, through Local Area Networks (LAN), thereby allowing that car to share internet access and data, with them.
In simplest terms, any vehicle that is equipped with internet connectivity can be considered a connected car.
Connected cars form a part of the ‘internet of things, a phrase referring to everyday items and devices being connected to the internet to make life easier.
Modern connected cars can also use wi-fi hotspots, enabling those in and around the car to use its internet access. This, in turn, helps in improving the entertainment value for passengers. Also, connected cars possess the feature to contact emergency services in their vicinity, using GPS data, in case of an accident that will further strengthen the Future of Connected Cars in India with these features.
Mechanism of Connected Cars
Currently, automobile companies are using two main kinds of systems in connected cars namely, Embedded and Tethered systems. An Embedded vehicle is usually equipped with a chipset and built-in antenna, whereas a Tethered system is equipped with hardware that connects to the driver’s smartphone.
A connected car can easily access or send data, download software updates, connect with other devices and can also provide WiFi internet connection to the passengers thus providing the Future of Connected Cars in India a solid base
In turn, all the data recorded by a connected car is then stored in a cloud computing environment and further used to be analyzed by a business intelligence system. The analyzed data is finally presented before the end-user in an easily readable format.
Typically, there are five types of automotive connectivity technologies that are available across the world, which include V2I or vehicle to infrastructure, V2P or vehicle to pedestrian, V2V or vehicle to vehicle, V2C or vehicle to cloud, and V2X or vehicle to everything. Therefore, the Future of Connected Cars in India largely depends on the type of technology the company offers to suit the needs of its customers.
Future of Connected Cars in India
Considered as one of the largest automotive markets in the world, Indian car buyers have topped the list of being open to increased vehicle connectivity, according to a study. The study claims that around 80 percent of Indian customers prefer to opt for increased vehicle connectivity and it will be beneficial in the long term.
Future of Connected Cars in India began with Hyundai Venue, which was followed by MG Hector with its tagline of “Internet Inside”. Both these cars are equipped with e-SIMs and offer telematics services ranging from remote vehicle controls, emergency calls, driving behavior analyses, breakdown calls, etc.
Following suit, other large players have come forward to improve the Future of Connected Cars in India. Among these, Kia Seltos and Nexon EV have been offering over 35 connected features in their newly launched connected cars.
Nexon comes fitted with ZConnect app through which, users can experience EV features like remote commands, location-based services, finding nearest charging stations and service stations, Alert services and Driver monitoring features, etc.
Kia offers to make its vehicle rich in connected features with the launch of Kia Seltos having 50 connected features whereas Kia Sonet armed with 57 connected features.
The above-listed companies are a part of the few automobile companies that are shaping the Future of Connected Cars in India with their latest innovations and dedicated designs. And though pandemic has acted as a speed breaker for this market as well, the potential shown so far in connected cars will continue to attract businesses in the long term.
