Car owners want connected car support for maps, emergencies, calls & more

Parks-Associates--Demand-for-Built-in-Capabilities-Apps-in-Next-Vehicle Parks Associates. Research shows that people like and want Internet connected cars. In 2016 there were 40 million U.S. vehicles are connected to the Internet reports

The most popular wanted connections are for navigation, roadside assistance, voice calls, vehicle performance/maintenance, music apps and web browsing.

The company found that 64% of car owners in U.S. broadband households would like built-in support for at least one connected activity in their next car.

Parks Associates research shows 44% of car owners in U.S. broadband households have some kind of advanced connected car feature and 61% of car owners prefer to bundle vehicle data consumption with smartphone data consumption.

Nearly 25% of vehicle drivers in U.S. broadband households find the ability for a connected car to automatically set a home “away mode” very appealing, and more than 50% of U.S. broadband households express privacy and safety concerns regarding connected cars.

The company predicts the these connected cars trends for 2016:

  1. Automakers embrace Apple and Android.
  2. Connected cars lead the way in crossing boundaries between different Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems.
  3. Connected technologies enable a shift in vehicle ownership models to one defined more by experience.
  4. Autonomous driving features will come to market system by system, such as emergency braking services.
  5. Privacy concerns will remain in the headlines until connectivity becomes indispensable to driving.

Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates notes with the exception of smartphones, no other device touches so many points in a person’s life as the car, from home to work to family and community interaction. Car-generated data will increasingly enrich connected solutions outside the car, while also offering an interaction touch point for those external solutions from within the car.

The increase in connected vehicles creates a larger addressable market for hackers, so privacy and security breaches will also increase. Consumers and regulators will continue to focus on the issue until connected car features are ubiquitous and necessary to the driving experience. Only then will the consumer evaluation of the security/value trade-off relent, as it has with online banking, e-commerce, and other forms of connected living.

Parks Associates will address developments and technologies affecting the connected consumer at the firm’s CONNECTIONS Summit: IoT, Entertainment, and the Connected Consumer at CES from January 6-7, in the Venetian Hotel, Level 4, Room Marcello 4501.