The connected car opportunity is set to grow massively in the next few years, yielding major opportunities for in-car display equipment suppliers, app developers and service providers, reports Steve Montgomery.
Revenues from connected car telematics are expected to reach $20 billion by 2018, with additional ‘soft revenues’ generated from areas such as car servicing, ‘Big Data’ enabled by telematics, and enhanced customer service throughout the lifetime of the vehicle. That’s according to forecasts by Juniper Global Research.
Meanwhile regulation in key markets, especially those in Europe and Latin America, will mandate the inclusion of SIMs in all new vehicles, allowing OEMs to develop revenue streams and resulting in split billing, creating major impact on the telematics industry.
Services such as Apple’s in-vehicle offering CarPlay will stimulate smartphone integration into the vehicle, which will serve as a hub. In-car apps will become widespread in the next five years, even though most will be available free of charge. “Commercial and personal services will reach even further into the lives of professionals and consumers as data and applications are made available through in-car displays and smartphones,” commented Anthony Cox, analyst at Juniper Research.
