Is the Automotive Industry just Big Tech on Wheels?
With more and more tech going into cars with connected systems suing IoT, global positioning systems (GPS) and the technology for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles, will the automotive industry and big tech converge into one.
Transformation of the Automotive Industry
With the push for greener vehicles, more and more electronic systems and sensors, a connected digital supply chain, robotics, digital design, virtual reality and other technologies, it seems like we are already there.
Connected Automobiles
Our smartphones are already connected to vehicles via bluetooth and many cars have sim cards and these software platforms are all connected and can be used for consumer and industrial applications that can benefit the driver, passengers and payloads with a huge growth potential.
With these connected system, comes big data and analytics feeding into a centralised system give automobile manufacturers insights into how automobiles are being used and IoT diagnostics on component wear and tear, maintenance and failure
Manufacturing Big Tech Automotive
Most automotive factories are already using digital prototyping, design, machining and analysis software where the CAD models and metadata are used to in manufacturing processes, systems and machines to manufacture.
In the concept and design phases, virtual reality and high-end visualisation systems are used as standard, however, the automotive industry needs to be more agile and innovation to connecting not only cars to human interface devices but also other cars and systems and infrastructure that connect to cars.
Automotive Needs More Programmers
With today’s cars packed full of tech, the industry needs more programmers than ever to create in-built applications and integrate systems with external devices and applications.
“Today’s car infotainment systems use more than 10 million lines of code,” said Audi’s Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales, Hildegaard Wortmann, speaking at NVIDIA’s GTC21 event this year. “That’s as much code as an entire vehicle needed just a few years ago.”
While the advantages of technology in cars and trucks is self-evident, the overhead to innovate, design and manage applications for essentially what is a mechanical smartphone device on wheels, adds to the cost of manufacturing and development.
What Does the Future Look Like for Automotive and Big Tech?
The Hollywood vision of driverless hybrid flying cars running on a anti-gravity fuel system is still far away but if we look at the gains we have made in the last 5 years, it’s probably not as far away as you think.
With over 50% of the workforce wanting to work from home these days, do we really need a car with all that tech if the days of being stuck in traffic for an hour or more are gone but we only have to imagine the magical drive down the ocean or trekking to the mountains and the justification of paying for all that tech and comfort makes sense in a car full of screaming kids.
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