While self-driving cars are garnering lots of headlines right now, the more immediate opportunity and challenge for automotive brands in 2016 will be developing must-have mobile features and software that can win over drivers. Smart technology is overhauling the American vision of what it means to drive a car, from new ownership models to a reimagined in-car experience. While it is likely to be a few years before self-driving cars are a reality, more due to social acceptance and regulatory issues than anything else, automakers are clearly focused on building their software expertise. 

Tesla Motors Inc. implemented restrictions on where it will allow its vehicles to use autopilot after many owners took videos of themselves driving hands-free in dangerous situations. Tesla, through a software update delivered via the Internet to its vehicles on Saturday, also added a self-parking or “summon” feature that allows the owner to park or fetch his or her vehicle remotely from a distance of up to 39 feet. Chief Executive Elon Musk said during a third-quarter conference call that the company would likely update the software in its autopilot system after drivers posted dozens of videos of themselves doing unsafe things, such as getting …

As last week's CES proved, the automotive industry is fast merging with the technology industry, spurred on by increased competition and consumer demand more than anything else. Now one of the major players, Ford, has announced a new initiative designed to explore how wearables can be better used in concert with your car.  The Automotive Wearables Experience lab at its Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan is Ford's facility dedicated to testing and developing cutting edge technology that connects you to your car via wearable technology.

One of the trends to emerge so far this year is the growing number of opportunities to drive sales from a myriad of smart devices in the home and elsewhere. MasterCard and Amazon were two big presences at the Consumer Electronics Show last week as savvy brands race to grab a piece of the emerging opportunity to make it easy for consumers to repurchase everyday items from smart devices in their homes. Savvy retailers such as Target were also on hand in recognition of the growing demand from consumers for enhancing their homes with technology.

Having just inked a deal to serve as a mobile and online payment platform for Walmart, MasterCard is looking to devices to widen its range in the digital payment space and has even launched a new grocery initiative. First, MasterCard is partnering with consumer electronics and financial software company Coin to bring MasterCard payments to a variety of fitness bands, smart watches and other wearable devices. This collaboration builds upon MasterCard’s October 2015 introduction of the Commerce for Every Device program to enable any consumer gadget, accessory or wearable to become a payment device. Atlas Wearables, which designs advanced fitness trackers, Moov, …

Samsung Pay, the mobile payments system that uses NFC technology through the devices from the South Korean tech giant, will now be headed into a broader range of countries across the globe, expanding it well beyond its very limited initial release. In a recent tweet, Samsung expressed that while the NFC technology based mobile wallet is already available in the United States and South Korea, it will become available to millions of additional customers in the very near future. This is because it will be stepping into at least three new countries in the near future. The countries that have been identified, so far, …

Security researchers have discovered a glaring security hole that exposes the home network password of users of a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell. The issue – now resolved – underlines how default configurations of IoT components can introduce easy to exploit security holes. The Ring allows punters to answer people knocking on your door from your mobile phone, even when you’re not at home. The kit acts as a CCTV camera, automatically activating if people approach your door, letting homeowners talk to visitors, delivery couriers and so on.

Seemingly onto something, Amazon is reportedly readying a smaller, portable version of its voice-activated tabletop Echo speaker. The move is “building off the device’s surprise success since it was released in November 2014,” The Wall Street Journal notes. “The new portable device is expected to sell at a lower price than the $180 Echo in part to attract more buyers.”

As autonomous driving technology advances, perhaps the most notable benefit is the promise of a striking reduction in accidents. But fewer accidents will, according to a recent report, turn the entire auto insurance industry on its head. “We think that over the next 20 to 25 years, the number of accidents will fall by 80 percent,” said Jerry Albright, principal of actuarial and insurance risk practice at KPMG, the consulting firm that released the report. “From a consumer perspective, this is a very good thing. You’ll see improved safety, fewer deaths.” At Progressive’s investor relations meeting in 2013, John Curtiss, …

In the early afternoon on Wednesday, at the midway point of the Consumer Electronic Show’s first-ever all-day event dedicated to cybersecurity in Las Vegas, an attendee got up and asked a group of panelists: “How paranoid should we be?” The rest of the attendees, as well as the panelists, burst up laughing. The feelings of the man who asked that earnest question was likely shared by many of the other roughly 100 attendees, who had just gone through a sort of crash course in all the basic security threats they should be worried about, from phishing to the simple risks …