Before cars become driverless, they will become
significantly more connected.
And the connections will bring to drivers features and activities in addition to those related to actual driving.
Car systems will be able to connect and
communicate with home appliances as well as sensors along a travel route, providing precise traffic and driving information.
There will be unseen technologies, such as networked sensors to
keep vehicles from running into each other, and systems that can place orders based on projected location arrival times.
Car manufacturers are morphing into partial technology companies, with
their vehicles increasingly becoming prime conduits of consumer information and behavior.
Meanwhile, technology companies are jumping into the car business, leveraging their knowledge of
consumer online behaviors combined with their experience in creating and deploying new technological capabilities.
This all is on the road to driverless cars, as highlighted in a recent
interview of a top Nissan exec with Automotive News in Europe.
“We are launching a system next year that can manage traffic jams on the motorway,” said Richard Candler,
Nissan Europe’s head of advanced product planning.” By 2020, we will have cars that can basically drive themselves in every situation. It will take some time for the consumer to get used
to these systems. We will start by taking away some of the pain points of driving, such as traffic jams and long journeys on motorways.”
At CES two years ago, major automakers displayed
how they would incorporate mobile apps into dashboards, essentially extending the abilities of the driver’s smartphone.
In the short term, smartphones still are needed as a communication
hub for many of the connected vehicle features. But that will change over time, with the car becoming the communication center.
Much like a smartphone can still be used to make a phone call,
the car of the future can still be used for transporting a person.