The connected car revolution is

happening out of India for the globe

why we need to seize the moment
VISHAL KRISHNA
, 17 MAY 2016
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Recently in Bengaluru, the $5 billion Nvidia, the US-based technology giant, invited
25 startups to make demos of communication platforms for connected vehicles with
the help of the incubator AutoNebula. The objective was to understand how simulated
experiences, of driving a connected vehicle, could be introduced into the real world.
AutoNebula wants to find 20 startups, with connected vehicle ideas, in each major
city in India. Within six miles, of Nvidia, there is Robert Bosch Engineering India
Limited, which is building interfaces for smartphones and the cars telematics unit for
Indian automobile manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki to Mahindra & Mahindra and
global brands like General Motors Cadillac brand. A few miles from RBEI there is
Continental, another billion dollar technology giant, which is building software for
vehicles to communicate with each other and the citys traffic management service.

Google
Self Driving Car
Opportunities for startups
If the work of corporates wasnt enough, there are a number of startups building
connected vehicle platforms.
Savari Networks has already received a contract from Anne Harbour, in
Michigan, to run a pilot service for communication between cars and the local
council. This platform is powerful because it captures information flow from
cars to the traffic management system, which will then give the council realtime data to manage cars, during emergencies, by beaming information to
drivers.
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Raksha SafeDrive has built a stack to manage emergency services for vehicle
owners.
Ather Energy is building much more than just an electric bike, whose
telematics unit is going to have elements of cloud-based services for drivers
to discover cities.
There are startups like Trak N Tell and CarIQ building their own safety and
predictive maintenance features on a platform.

This is just the beginning. We need an ecosystem to come together to get everybody
from the software and hardware side together, says Chetan Maini, the Founder of the
Reva Electric car, which is now owned by M&M. Chetan himself has already chalked
out plans for a connected vehicle technology startup with sustainable mobility as the
objective.
New business models, new standards
New business models will emerge, which will include network operators, automobile
companies, startups, IT-Services companies, technology companies, software security
companies, analytics providers, and cloud aggregators. However, there has to be a
standard of communication that automobile companies have to agree upon. However,
one must be weary over the legal wrangles that can emerge when cars get hacked or
when information is stolen or if the car malfunctions because of the software.
The communication wars are between Ethernet and WiFi, which will be
sorted by the likes of Broadcom and Qualcomm. There is an alliance of 57
automobile companies who have formed the Open Automobile Alliance,
which wants to bring an Android-based standard for smartphone
integration in cars.

The latter is already in advanced stages, where auto manufacturers have integrated
certain smartphone features like music and maps on to the telematics unit of the car.
Tata Motors has worked with Harman Electronics to integrate the vehicles telematics
units with smartphone interfaces.
Every car coming out from the year 2025, globally, will have complete connected
systems. This mobility device in the car will collect all information of the car its
performance, failures, and driving habits and send it to the corporate in the real time
to offer its customers better services. Second, the information of every car will be

constantly in communiqu with the citizen services infrastructure operated by the

local council.
IT services and the market size
This entire information stack, of consumer-to-corporation, is going to need a lot of
integration and maintenance, which will be provided by IT services giants like
Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. These giants have all won contracts with global car
manufacturers to do design work and maintain IT infrastructure. Infosys works for
Daimler and there is every opportunity to manage connected vehicle platforms.
Machine learning will be an opportunity across verticals in the IT business, says
Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, in a recent press conference announcing the results of
the company. Infosys has also worked with the likes of Toyota Motor Corporation to
manage their dealer management systems in North America and Europe.
MarketdandMarkets forecasts that the market size for connected vehicles will reach
$46.69 billion by 2020. There is more evidence of its growth. According to Gatrner
Inc., there will be a quarter billion connected vehicles on the road, enabling new invehicle services and automated driving capabilities. Gartner adds that during the next
five years, the proportion of new vehicles equipped with this capability will increase
dramatically, making connected cars a major element of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Gartner forecasted that 4.9 billion connected things were in use in 2015, up 30 per
cent from 2014, and will reach 25 billion by 2020.
The connected car is already a reality, and in-vehicle wireless connectivity is rapidly
expanding from luxury models and premium brands, to high-volume midmarket
models, says James F. Hines, Research Director at Gartner. The increased
consumption and creation of digital content within the vehicle will drive the need for
more sophisticated infotainment systems, creating opportunities for application
processors, graphics accelerators, displays and human-machine interface
technologies, says James. At the same time, new concepts of mobility and vehicle

usage will lead to new business models and expansion of alternatives to car
ownership, especially in urban environments, he adds.
Gartner forecasts that about one in five vehicles on the road worldwide will have
some form of wireless network connection by 2020, amounting to more than 250
million connected vehicles. The proliferation of vehicle connectivity will have
implications across the major functional areas of telematics, automated driving,
infotainment and mobility services.

What is a connected vehicle?

In one sentence, the connected car is a consumer device whose owner agrees to share
data of the car with the IT-infrastructure of governments and corporations. In
return the consumer or owner accepts services in the form of a paid service or
contract from the government and the corporate. Services from the automobile
company would be predictive maintenance services and apps that improve the driving
experience. The government will provide emergency management services or
information about the city to drivers. Say there is a traffic jam, but the car can platoon
vehicles into a particular road and avoid the clogged road. This is a technology marvel
that needs the services of all players in the ecosystem. The technology terms generally
used are Vehicle-2-Vehicle, Vehicle-2-Infrastructure, and Vehicle-2-Smartphone.

This is big business, indeed, but can there be the next wave of software-driven
companies focussed in building connected vehicle platforms and services from India.
The answer is, yes!

Are you working for/running a startup in the Consumer Technology or Digital

Media space? Then heres your startups chance to raise funding from IDG
Ventures India!Apply now. Want to know more? Head over here.

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TAGS

CONNECTED CAR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

CONNECTED CAR ECO-SYSTEM
CONNECTED CAR SOFTWARE
GLOBE SPEND ON CONNECTED CARS
INDIA AND CONNECTED VEHICLES
SOFTWARE FOR CONNECTED CARS
SOFTWARE FROM INDIA POWERS CONNECTED CARS
STARTUPS BUILDING THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORT
STARTUPS IN CONNECTED CAR INDUSTRY
THE FUTURE OF CARS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vishal Krishna
Vishal Krishna is a senior editor who covers the spirit of entrepreneurship. He has covered everything from
startups to small businesses to large corporate. When he is not writing he is a student of the guitar, aikido,
fitness and sport.

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