In 2020 your car will be able to do a lot more than just driving, it will for example pay for your parking fees and gas. How will your car perform these kinds of tasks? Because it’s Wi-Fi-connected!
In the coming four years, the total number of cars and trucks that are connected will increase to 220 million, what also leads to an increase in the delivery of digital content. As already stated above, cars can pay for gas or your parking fees. An example is Audi Connect, this program is already three years old now, but is based on the same idea. It connected cars with the parking lots’ service, due to this the driver could see where the area lots where located, could raise parking barriers and the program automatically paid for the parking fee. On top of this, the driver received real-time pricing information of nearby gas stations.
Wi-Fi-connected cars will also lead to an increase in automated driving functions, such as collision avoidance, modifying cruise control and warnings when the driver leaves their lane. In order to perform these kinds of tasks, they must be equipped with sensing technologies like radar systems and cameras. The connected cars will detect objects in their direct surroundings with the use of image detection, hereby, the cars can provide more advanced reactions or have autonomous control. Cars will even be able to communicate with other cars and the infrastructure in their environment, called respectively vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. An example of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is when your car informs you about a traffic light that is green at the moment, but will turn red in a second.
Just a while ago, Audi, BMW and Daimler formed a partnership with a number of large tech firms to develop a 5G network for vehicle communications which will improve self-driving technology. According to Mearian the data rates will go up to 1Gbps, this means that an increased number of devices can simultaneously be connected on the same network.
With cars becoming more and more connected over the coming years, hackers have to be taken into account. Recently, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) released some security recommendations to the automotive industry for these highly connected cars. The federal government stated for instance that the driver should be informed about privacy and security issues, such as the collection, use and sharing of data. In reaction to this increase of potential cybersecurity flaws, Volkswagen announced that it will start a cybersecurity company.
The Wi-Fi-connected cars will be able to perform many functions that will lead to a better integration of ‘in-vehicle systems’. This connected vehicle technology will result in big opportunities and disruptions in this industry, don’t you think?
References:
Mearian, L. (2016). BY 2020, YOUR WI-FI-CONNECTED CAR WILL PAY FOR PARKING, GAS. Available at: http://www.itnews.com/article/3126153/car-tech/by-2020-your-wi-fi-connected-car-will-pay-for-parking-gas.html [Accessed 03 Oct. 2016].
Mearian, L. (2016). AUDI, BMW AND DAIMLER PARTNER WITH TECH FIRMS TO DRIVE 5G INTO CARS. Available at: http://www.itnews.com/article/3124419/car-tech/audi-bmw-and-daimler-partner-with-tech-firms-to-drive-5g-into-cars.html [Accessed 03 Oct. 2016].
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for the interesting post. I had also read some articles about this topic. Cars will be like real computers, if this technology will develop further, what probable will happen. The ease for drivers will increase rapidly as the car will do the most things automatically. This comfort will even jump to another level, when the vehicle itself will detect potential car problems. The result will be money saving for the driver.
The car-to-car communication technique you mentioned will not only be a handy application, but can really make the difference between life and death. With information like speed and steer position which the cars will receive from each other, terrible crashes can be prevented. This technique will even go to the level that the cars can communicate with smartphones from pedestrians. This way the vehicle will detect them on time when they are crossing the street.
The safety issue remains the most important problem like you said. Giving the car ‘’brains’’ will make them a target for hackers and the damage with that can tremendous. Imagine driving a car and a hacker gets control over the brake. The result can be a horrible traffic accident.
Even with the security issues, I still think it is a very interesting technology. The most systems have this kind of issues, so I hope that this will not stop the development and I will definitely keep an eye on it.