Ther
e were several visionary aspects of the future of connected cars explored at SXSW during the “Internet of Cars” panel on Friday, March 9, 2014.
Connected cars generate 25MB data per hour, making it the biggest wearable device, noted Scott Lange, Exec Creative Director, Team Detroit. For example, when the windshield wipers are running could be interpreted for weather conditions and what songs to play. Other data used to decide what songs to play could be the speed of the car or seat location showing what family member is driving the car.
Car bump data and uneven pavement data could be used to determine highway repair using cars as giant sensors on wheels.
Heidi Browning, Pandora senior VP reported that over half of all music listening takes place in cars. The two most requested features for connected cars are navigation and radio. Browning in another interview noted that Pandora will be ubiquitous.
Who Pays for the Connected Car Devices?
In the future, connected car devices could be sold like smartphones with the device price included in monthly service fees, noted one panelist.
Sefi Grossman, vice president of technology for Team Detroit said that Ford does not want to create a proprietary system but create a unified API with Ford’s OpenXC Platform.
Dave Knox, Chief Marketing Officer of digital marketing firm Rockfish suggested that cars could connect with connected homes with software to turn on devices at home or warn the driver if a door or window is open or unlocked.