Intelligent Cars-The New Future

Fremont: Nowadays, people do not want cars that they can just drive! They want their cars to connect to their smartphones, find parking spaces on its own, locate areas, remotely turn on and off the lights at home and maybe even drive themselves around. As a result, the recently concluded CES saw major automobile manufacturers announcing deals with leading mobile operating system companies like Google (Android), Apple (iOS) and Microsoft in an effort to bring this ‘intelligence’ into cars.

Google has already partnered with Audi to introduce Android into their cars, while BMW has gone with the Apple iOS. The car manufactures also have plans to offer Web connection in their cars, including Wi-Fi hot spots for tablets and laptops. The revolution in this space is expected to make automobiles the frontrunners in consumer mobility. However, as per the rules laid out by the government, drivers are expected to pull over before they even do small tasks like reducing the volume on the phone, check a text or even to look at the Google Maps for navigation. Internet connected dashboards will solve this problem as automotive manufactures are designing dashboards, which can house a tablet or a smartphone easily so that they can be used for easy navigation by the drivers. For instance, the dashboard inside Tesla’s Model S has a screen, which is the size of two iPads kept side-by-side.

Automotive companies and developers will now need to decide if the app that they develop will be touch or if there will be physical buttons which the driver has to punch while driving. They will also have to determine if only the driver will have access to the dashboard apps or if all the other passengers be able to use these apps as well.

This revolution in the automotive industry is not only providing growth opportunities to the mobility industry but to also to the carriers. As Bluetooth will not be the only way to connect to the mobile devices in the cars of future; mobile service providers see new potential. The connected cars will need huge data streaming from the internet. Mobile operators like AT&T and Verizon are looking forward to this. “The car is becoming a smartphone on wheels. I have been blown away by how fast mobility and connected apps are moving into the car,” said Ralph de la Vega, AT&T Mobility’s president.