Opportunity To Get Connected May Be Delayed
Last month’s first pedestrian death by driverless car will have pushed back the imminence of the autonomous vehicle.
Meanwhile, however, connected cars are forging ahead apace.
Dublin based Cubic Telecom, one of the leaders in the field, recently announced that the worldwide population of cars using its software to get connected had now exceeded a million.
The definition has varied over time, but it is becoming accepted that a ‘connected car’ is one which has built-in kit to connect itself to the internet, using mobile networks, just like a smartphone.
Then it can connect to other devices by becoming a mobile hotspot.
A connected car’s infotainment system can provide traffic updates, respond to voice commands, deliver online music streaming and the like under its own stream.
Plugging a phone in via a USB port is so last year.
More significantly, car makers are connecting up monitoring functions so that the car itself can interact with the net.
The petrol warning light comes on and the car will tell you that the nearest available fill-up is just 200 yards from the next junction, four miles up the motorway.
Manufacturers can sustain two-way communications with their vehicles, installing software updates remotely and collecting valuable performance data.
Inevitably, of course, that means bombarding owners with ‘opportunities,’ such as ‘You have just clocked up 19,500 miles, sir, why not book in for your 20,000 mile service now?’
Inevitably, the question then arises, about how easily connected cars can be hacked and, if so, what the potential results of a cyber intrusion might be.
Perhaps I might stick to plugging the phone in for a bit longer!
