Being "smart" is the promise of an entire generation of technology. Whether it’s watches, refrigerators or toothbrushes – new purchases have to be "connected" today, therefore, part of the Internet of Things. If you can't afford such new products, you just retrofit what you already have. Especially when it comes to mobility, this has become a real trend.
Nowadays, we are continuously optimizing ourselves and our everyday life. Whether we’re on a shopping trip or working out – all unpleasant little tasks can be delegated to our smartphones, tablets, PCs and even watches. It makes sense that more and more people are “upgrading” even their cars by adding such special talents.
The idea of intelligent cars is decades old: David Hasselhoff's K.I.T.T. or James Bond's legendary vehicles come to mind at once. Fortunately, most of us don't need an ejector seat, grappling hooks or mounted weapons on our cars. Instead, we’ll be able to get more and more things done from within our cars – even while driving.
What exactly is a smart car?
For years, car manufacturers have been competing head-to-head for the future of mobility. For the driver, features such as trouble-code analyses, automatic and tax-compliant driver logbooks, find-my-car functions or life-saving emergency services are already on the market.
These new features will also help the automotive industry to work more effectively in the future: With the support of IoT platforms, they can offer much better services to their customers. Remote analyses from the Workshop 4.0, pay-as-you-drive rates for insurances and the so-called "connected fueling", which connects drivers and petrol stations and thus enables cashless refueling and shopping at gas stations, are only three of these new services.
Cooperation is the new black
Communication is the crucial focus of smart vehicles and their services. Smart cars are only possible because engineers and IT developers are working closer and closer together across all industries. What all players need are flexible IoT platforms with microservices and access points (APIs) for the mobility industry and related areas such as “Smart Home” and “Smart City”.
Since the integration of a ready-to-use technology is faster and cheaper than in-house development, more and more car manufacturers decide to cooperate with IoT startups such as PACE. The result is a whole new generation of smart cars.
Smart cars close the security gap open until the rise of autonomous driving
The largest question here, as in all areas of connectivity, is one of security. Therefore, even big security testing organizations such as DEKRA have decided to cooperate with IoT companies who develop ingenious concepts. With new algorithms, traffic safety in Germany is to be significantly improved.
In addition to the distraction-free service world within the car, the further development of autonomous driving is of course also on the agenda of automobile companies. Smart-car companies are already prepared for this: "In future, we can supplement our value-adding services with many elements that make driving more pleasant and entertaining – even in autonomous vehicles," says Dr. Martin Kern, founder and managing director of the IoT startup PACE. The company has been smoothing the way for drivers and businesses who want to connect to the Internet of Things since 2015.
Car manufacturers and lawmakers are working towards autonomous cars driving on Germany's roads by 2020. IT professionals Google and Apple are also pioneering this development. However, a study by Deutsche Bank concludes that computer-controlled vehicles will not dominate the market until 2040.
What will smart cars be capable of?
But even without autonomous driving, smart cars already have amazing talents: Intelligent cars not only recognize what is happening around them but are also able to predict accidents. Mercedes, for example, developed PRE-SAFE, a system designed to prevent blast trauma even before a crash: Short-term "pink noise" of the radio before the impact causes a reflex in the ear, which protects the eardrum.
In the future, smart cars will also be able to predict the behavior of pedestrians. By analyzing their movements, the car recognizes a person wanting to cross the road and thereby overlooking an approaching vehicle. It even goes one step further: By means of additional eye tracking, which is already being installed by Audi and included in Opel headlight technology, the vehicle could even assess by itself whether its driver is currently overlooking a pedestrian.
How smart is Germany already?
The average age of a car in Germany is 9 years. This means that many cars sold today will still be on our roads in 9 years. Throughout Europe, 140 million vehicles are still offline, but fulfill the requirements to be converted into a smart car (i.e. they’re equipped with a corresponding OBD2 port, which enables plug-and-play conversion into a connected car).
According to Statista, sales in the connected-car market in Germany will add up to about 2 billion Euros; by 2022 this will grow to 2.45 billion Euros. There are already 10 million connected cars on our roads – though the statistics do not specify the individual talents of these cars.
Most new car models already offer some of the so-called "connected services", but in terms of user experience and the number of features offered, there is still room for improvement in many cases. Also, manufacturers often do not have a solution for cars that are not yet connected but are yet to be sold.
Pioneering spirit and competitiveness are driving more and more companies into the arms of smart IoT-startups. They know: Customers expect more than just a large smartphone within their cockpit. Therefore, companies like PACE are on the upswing, enabling bigger players to enter the Internet of Things in an uncomplicated way.
Many mobility concepts will focus on further development of sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and, of course, autonomous driving. However, it will still take a long time before road traffic will be fully automated.
Zum Original