Around the world, projects related to connected and autonomous driving are appearing, and increasingly recurrently. This is due to reasons of improved mobility safety, reduced emissions, better use of space and significant economic savings. As well as an impact on the economy, which will generate new jobs, new challenges, new projects and more competition.
The success of this type of mobility will depend on the success of the reliability of this technology, the cost of the vehicles and the adaptation of the current traffic laws.
For most people, the future of mobility will be autonomous and connected. But the question is when it will be possible to reach this milestone. To reach the desired goal will not depend solely on technological and technical knowledge. It will also depend on the investment required by projects of this scope, which is almost always insufficient. And a clear business model, so that the application of such technology is effective. Regulatory, safety and standardization issues are a necessary precondition for validation.
Automakers have a new task, to take on a new identity as mobility service providers. Until now, they had always seen themselves as suppliers of products. Component suppliers, we have put the batteries to produce high-tech elements at lower and more competitive prices.
We must take into account electronic systems in the automotive industry. In recent decades 90% of the innovations and new features of vehicles have been related to electrical systems. And approximately 35% of the cost of a vehicle corresponds to technology.
A good example of this trend is that, a decade ago, only high-end vehicles had night vision systems with pedestrian detection, parking sensors, 3600 cameras and adaptive lights. Currently, mid-range utilities already have these systems as standard.
There are some areas of development in the automotive industry in which work has to be done to move towards the connected car:
- ConAutonomous driving: No human driver.
- Safety: Warn of road problems or dangerous situations and detect and avoid collisions.
- Entertainment: Wi-Fi or access to local network, to access social networks and the mobile office.
- Wellness: Optimizing driver health and competence, with electronic alerts that detect or mitigate fatigue, and other forms of individual assistance.
- Vehicle management: Car functions, service and vehicle status displays and the transmission of traffic data.
- Mobility management: For faster, safer, cheaper and more efficient driving, based on data collected by the vehicle.
- Integration in the home, offices, buildings…
