IoT GUIDE

INTRODUCTION

By the year 2020 an entire new generation would have grown up with mobile phone, high speed broadband, cloud services and apps for everything on smart device and at their fingertips. This is mainly due to the megatrend ‘digitalization’ of services fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT), which has the power to disrupt every industry and everything, around us. It will completely change the way we live, play, work, pay, travel and drive.

The emergence and popularity of IoT are due to the fact that the upwardly mobile urban populace across the world feels a strong lifestyle need for connected devices. The newer technologies, today, will enable users to stay connected through a range of devices, all through IoT. We are increasingly witnessing an IoT-driven change across industries. Industries such as those in transportation, retail, oil and gas, manufacturing and healthcare will see enormous benefits. For instance, supply chains will soon have provision to track automobile parts and materials in real-time. This is bound to reduce work capital requirements and avoid disruptions in manufacturing. Likewise, the healthcare sector will be able to remotely monitor its staff and patients. The oil and gas industry, through smart components, will see reduced operations cost and higher fuel efficiency. Companies in manufacturing industry will see speedy responses to demands, using smart sensors and various digital control systems.Cities and society will also see a lot of societal and environmental benefits, where pollution and traffic will be reduced.

Through convergence, graphical displays, touchscreens, computer graphics, voice control and human gestures are fast becoming the car’s interface, with electronic sensors and algorithms determining much of the driving experience. The software-driven features coming down the road have new auto infotainment apps, but brand new features such as personalization, Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS), and extensions for car share, region-specific adaptations, car-to-home integration, new vehicle safety options and remote mobile control have become a reality because of connectivity and IoT.

The all new car applications and driver interactions will make immense improvements to the marketing, sales, service and product development functions, and help personalize and strengthen customer relationships, and increase revenue by developing various value-added services for better safety. This is all possible by harnessing the car data that is being generated and analyzed. Also, the data helps to diagnose the vehicles and provides preventive to predictive analytics, which can be used to provide information to companies such as insurance agencies, and to determine software updates in the car for its safety and others.

The increasing scale of data from the vehicle and connected devices represents a remarkable revenue opportunity for the players that can provide insights from data, value from transactions and new innovative services. The raw data that is being generated by on-board sensors, cameras, Lidars and  will only accelerate as ADAS and self-driving cars will become a reality.considerably. As we shift our focus to the automotive industry we cannot fail to notice the way IoT is engulfing the space. However, the automotive industry remains low-profile and calls for rapid transformation as compared to other industries.

THE CONVERGENCE

IoT is rapidly transforming the automotive industry from connected car to autonomous car, enabling new consumption and monetization models such as car sharing, pay-as-you-drive and others.

Mobile technologies such as 3G and 4G LTE along with WiFi, IEEE 802.11n/ac operating in the unlicensed spectrum are the main drivers for making connected car a reality. Automotive OEM in partnership with telecom carriers will need to figure out a profitable business model to offer connectivity to all cars (embedded connectivity in car and via tethered smartphone solutions) without any additional charges to consumer, then and only then will the vision for 100% connected car be achieved by 2020. With high speed connectivity at the heart of connected car, 5G systems have a significant role to play as the industry undergoes major transformation towards full autonomous car which will require cars to cooperate with each other and with the infrastructure in a secure and reliable manner with high throughput, guaranteed jitter/delivery and reduced latency.

Also, the automotive industry aims to eliminate possible and probable fatalities and accidents using technologies that make autonomous driving a reality. Today, cars are no more mere machines that drive users from point A to point B. Cars are expected to be as functional as homes and workplaces if not more. Users are demanding easy access to data and services that they have on their phone, in their cars.

The author believes that “The vehicle of tomorrow will be a supercomputer on wheels internally connected through a deterministic IP network where the software features will determine the car’s behavior on the roads and the vehicle will work for you, ushering in an era of the Software Defined Car. Tomorrow’s opportunities lie in what we call the ‘Software-Defined Car’ and Figure 1 illustrates the journey from today’s car to autonomous car around 2020.

A connected vehicle is replete with sensors and processors that rely on software which are running 30 to 100 microprocessors known as Electronic Control Units (ECUs) interconnected with each other through in-car networks.

OUTCOME

Unexpected business outcomes are set to arise due to rapid IoT-enabled convergence of technologies and platforms. This means that businesses are bound to see lower liability in insurance through driver, vehicle and safety.

America’s drivers wasted 6.9 billion hours in traffic in 2014 [1]. This is bound to come down tremendously, and consequently, will shoot up American productivity and scope of a knowledge-based workforce. Benefits of the automotive IoT era will be evident from improved traffic patterns, better fuel economy and enhanced safety. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) notice of proposed rulemaking over V2V technology, the aim of this is to ensure that V2V technology is integrated into new vehicles to reduce traffic congestion [2].

At the end, from the user’s point of view, it is all about delivering value as we enhance the in-car experience. Heartening news is that the auto industry is already rapidly transforming, offering connected services and the driving force is the amalgamation of technologies under the umbrella of IoT.

CONCLUSION

As connected and software defined cars become common on urban roads, there will be a considerable number of software devices installed in the vehicles. IoT will offer a stimulus to the car industry by connecting and making use of data through the cloud for the 250 million cars on American roads. Shared driverless cars with 5G connectivity are the future though they may sound like a thing of science fiction today. IoT will allow everything and everyone to be linked on the go, consequently changing the way we collaborate and consume. The road ahead for the automotive industry is open and lined with opportunities. It’s time to shift into top gear and 5G should be at the center of it!

The original article is available here.