Connected Cars are Moving the Car Business Forward

The history and future of connected cars are looked at. Many car owners’ worst nightmare is when the “Check Engine” light comes on. If you don’t know much about how a car works, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell what’s wrong with it just by looking at the check engine light. It could be a quick and easy fix, or a major part could break. It costs thousands of dollars to replace.

But what if your car could tell you exactly what’s wrong instead of just giving you vague information? Thanks to the internet of things, this and other exciting things are now possible. Read on to find out how “connected cars” that use IoT are changing the car business.

How connected cars came to be:

People often use the term “connected car” to talk about cars that use IoT technology. However, that’s not where the term first caught on. Both GM and Ford came out with their OnStar and RESCU services in 1996. Most of the time, these services were used as a way for customers to get in touch with a call center in case of an accident, breakdown, theft, or other emergencies. By having GPS tracking built into the car, call center workers could send help to the driver quickly and easily, even if the driver didn’t know where they were.

These were the first cars that could connect to the internet. As time went on, both GM and Ford added more features to their services. Connected cars eventually got things like remote diagnostics, help with navigation, Wi-Fi hotspots, and more. These improvements set the stage for full IoT integration, connecting cars to almost every IoT-enabled device you can think of. Smartphones are one of the best-known examples of this because they can connect to a car and control the music, lock, unlock, and start the car from a distance, and do other things.

Predictive car maintenance for cars that are connected:

Now, let’s go back to the made-up situation with the check engine light. If your car doesn’t have IoT connectivity, it might be hard to figure out what the problem is. But the IoT makes it possible to do predictive maintenance on the whole car, It tells the driver which parts are getting worse before they break. Car maintenance is no longer a guessing game, which makes people’s lives easier and keeps them on the road longer. No more annoying trips to the mechanic where you don’t know if you’re being lied to or ripped off.

Managing fleets of connected cars:

The IoT makes it easier, safer, and more efficient to manage large groups of transportation vehicles. Predictive maintenance can be used in the same way as we’ve already talked about. It can tell operators when a part might break down before it does, which in the case of these big trucks can cause a lot of damage. Integrated vision systems can also improve the safety of both the cargo and the driver while the vehicle is in operation. Blind spots can be watched to reduce the chance of an accident.  AI can be used to find other cars outside of blind spots and warn the driver if an accident is about to happen. The video that is used for this detection system can also be saved. It can be used in the future for training, in case of an accident.

With the IoT, drivers of a fleet can also talk to each other better. 5G or Wi-Fi modules can be installed in the cars, allowing drivers to talk to each other quickly and with little delay (Source: Intel). Fleet managers can also keep track of where each vehicle in the fleet is and what its status is, as well as give drivers instructions if they need to change their routes.

Connected cars made autonomous:

One last thing to talk about is how IoT can be used in connected cars. It might be the most exciting for most people. Semi-autonomous and fully-autonomous vehicles have been in the news for a long time. Tesla is one of the most well-known companies that support this technology. “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) Tesla cars have eight cameras installed in the front, back, and all around the sides and back of the car.

This gives the car a full 360° view of its surroundings. The FSD technology is based on these cameras, as well as other sensors and a neural network that are built into the car. The most important part of this is the neural network. Elon Musk has said that the neural network in Tesla cars “will learn over time” by collecting data from other Tesla cars and drivers. The Internet of Things (IoT) makes this possible by connecting sensors to the cloud. It helps to collect data top out together.  Then it is used to improve the self-driving features of the car.

Conclusion:

There are a lot of things that can be done with connected cars. Predictive maintenance can not only make life easier for drivers, but it can also help large companies better manage their fleets of vehicles or find solutions to hard problems like autonomous driving.

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