2022 and Beyond: Connectivity the Road to Smart Mobility and Autonomy

With the ever-changing pattern of urban agglomerations and the spiraling rise in the rather irksome downsides – plumes of smoke, endless gridlocks, inefficient commute, congestion – the clamor to reimagine mobility is consistent.

Mobility exists as a counterpart to tech advancements and ultra-connected, safe and resilient smart cities. Cars of the future won’t be just vehicles to take control, steer, gear and rev up to a destination, they will be smart, sophisticated devices: offering real-time updates, predictive analytics, lane tracking, automated assistance, zooming on hurdles ahead, in-vehicle experience and a lot more.

The all-permeating digitalization is transforming sectors and verticals, imbuing them with efficiency and eliminating redundancies, but the changes underway in the world of automotive are both far-reaching and with a direct implication for all other sectors.

As we step into 2022 with Omicron strain still lurking and protracted chip shortage compelling the automobile industry to maneuver within constraints and plan alternatives to tide over future disruptions, perhaps it’s time to relook at what’s expected to define the contours of automotive industry in the future.

If the advanced guards of the present presage anything that will have a mass ripple effect, then autonomous cars are just a matter of when – and not how and where.

Dual power: 5G & IoT

Embedded chips, smart sensors and the rollout of 5G and IoT will transform cars and the entire vehicle experience in unprecedented ways. Trends such as electrification, autonomy, increasing use of sensors, will unveil the next generation of commute, an essential facet of future smart city and the age of industrial automation.

Innovations in AI/ML along with the spike in ultra-fast connectivity with low latency due to 5G, will break barriers and turn cars into devices that generate, process, analyze and share data. Razor sharp and precise analytical capability will ensure that insights gained from the data would add an array of services and facilities to the cars, alongside safety enhancement. As per a report by Statista, the connected car market would cross $150 billion mark by 2025.

Mainstreaming of 5G would take real-time updates and data sharing to a whole new level. This would contribute to a spurt in AR/VR applications and companies would bid to provide the most personalized, interactive and immersive experiences. In-car infotainment, as we know it, would get radically enhanced. Based on user patterns and automated insights, the definition of infotainment would evolve from merely plugging to weather updates or local news to a gamut of possibilities.

One of the major roadblocks in autonomous vehicles has been of perception, inertia and consumer misgivings. But with trial runs and emergence of empirical evidences, they are being dispelled. As per studies, connected vehicles can reduce accident fatalities by more than 90%. So, it’s no more a question of whether or not they will be safer than existing fleet of vehicles.

Data-centric innovations

Fast connectivity would enable both real-time updates and hyper localization and aggregation of information sharing so that any information pertaining to the path ahead would be relayed without any lag. Humungous to-and-fro flow of data would also require the need for new protocols, regulations, standardization, and most importantly, newer mechanisms to enhance cybersecurity and functional safety. As of now, most of these developments are in an elementary stage due to patchwork institutional irregularities, lack of a coherent approach, widespread inequities, and the absence of a viable framework.

However, industry councils such as the Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) initiative founded by members like Toyota and Ericsson have begun to ponder over the implications of enormous data transfer in vehicles.

Every wave of disruptive innovation unleashes a process that entails all sorts of rearrangements: breaking up, merging, reorienting. With dizziness and exuberance characterizing the new rush, companies that want to stay ahead of the curve and retain their customer base will redefine themselves and come up with newer offerings.

Agile disruptors

As per a report by IBM, 69% of automotive executives say the brand is a competitive advantage, but only 46% expect this to be so by 2030. Blurring of boundaries between legacy players and new entrants offering myriad services taking the entrenched big league by a storm, would be an overriding future trend. One major reason for this would be the behavioral change in people’s perception of cars, and relation to them. This would not only have a bearing on car ownership patterns, but also establish the paramountcy of host of digital services provided through over-the-air updates: nimble infotainment, HD navigation and other assorted services.

Mobility-as-a-Service will emerge as a formidable sector that will shape up both customer expectations and automaker priorities. As per the Ericsson report, data monetization revenue from connected cars would be in the range of USD 450 billion to USD 750 billion by 2030.

“Connected cars will drive the transformation of global wireless data networks, radically altering global transportation, as well as business models, revenue sources and ecosystems”, avers the same report.

Spurt to collaboration

A study by McKinsey makes the case that new entrants, suppliers, OEMS and innovators of cutting-edge tech are in a scramble to build stronghold in the mobility sector. It identifies autonomy, connected cars, electric vehicles and smart mobility as the four future trends.

It would seem that the rise in competition would lead to intense rivalries, discreet researches, turf wars and the breakneck race to stay ahead, but interestingly once the structure formalizes there would also be increased cooperation and collaboration as well. Legacy automakers are investing in software and ADAS ( Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) research, while big software companies are focusing on automotive capabilities. With their operations aims beings contiguous, there would be ample scope for collaboration as well.

Automakers such as Volvo have already joined hands with companies such as Nvidia. While Apple’s furtive Project Titan is yet to accomplish any success, the explored collaboration opportunities with Volkswagen in 2019. The German automaker Audi has its own Autonomous Driving Intelligence Unit. Whiff of prevailing change in the air also leads to unlikely alliances: Ford signed a deal with Baidu last year for AI research and autonomous vehicles. The streams of collaboration and competition are flowing concurrently.

Who would have thought that the oft-repeated banality of data being the new oil would indicate an epochal transformation in connectivity and towards autonomy?