4 Major Applications of IoT in the Automotive Industry

The Internet of things is rebranding and restructuring many fields. Its influence can be found in several industries such as entertainment, agriculture, business, health, music and education.

Its restructuring move is not left out in the automotive industry. IoT technology has become an essential part of the modern world. Hardly can modernization be mentioned without IoT being made reference of. It is an undeniable fact we must embrace.

IoT connected devices are remodelling industries, changing traditional narratives and bringing in new innovations and ideas for the purpose of technological advancement and sophistication. Its development is a very rapid one that will continue to grow, especially in the automotive industry.

According to the prediction made by GlobeNewswire, the automotive IoT market will shoot up at a CAGR of 16.4% between 2019 and 2025, with a further prediction that it will hit $541.73 billion by 2025.

Automotive industry is not relenting in advancing in all spheres. The industry is refocusing its lenses of concentration more to service and experience, rather than just products. The industry is aiming at having a connected world of automobiles beyond the confines of warehouses.

To achieve these grand and modernistic goals, the automotive industry is leveraging IoT technology. With the incorporation of IoT technology in the automotive industry, it is certain that roads and every path are bound to witness groundbreaking innovations.

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

Internet of Things (IoT) simply refers to billions of physical devices connected together to the Internet, all over the world, and are collecting and sharing data without involvement of human operations.

For example, your house contains a lot of physical devices. Your TV set, standing fan, vacuum cleaner, oven, refrigerator even down to your door, are devices. If you incorporate IoT technology in your home, you can have all these aforementioned devices connected to the Internet.

What this implies is that technology has evolved beyond the scope of having only smartphones, laptops or desktop computers to be the only devices that can connect to the Internet. IoT technology has completely changed everything. Even your home toy can be connected to the Internet!

The connection of all these physical devices collecting and sharing data is what is known as the Internet of Things (IoT).

Internet of Things (IoT) technology can be applied in any field. It all depends on the aim and goal for using it.

In the next section, we will be checking out five applications of IoT technology in the automotive industry.

Ready? Let’s explore!

Top 4 Applications of IoT in Automobile Industry

1. Real-Time Vehicle Telematics

Vehicle telematics enables you to monitor your location, status, movement, speed and behaviour of your vehicle in a fleet.

The connection of telematic devices and smart cloud-connected IoTboxes to vehicles provides vital information such as the condition of the vehicle, the health status of the driver, etc. The connection has given a large room for optimization of transportation, a great rise in the automotive industry, to be possible.

The connection of IoT and telematics enables the enhancement and connectivity of vehicles with electronics and other hardwares that allows for communication with other devices.

There are a number of advantages associated with the use of telematics. They include remote vehicle speed limit control, emergency responders, vehicle collision notification to third parties and remote access to vehicle operation information.

2. Cellular Vehicle to Everything (CV2X)

Having access to information like real-time traffic flow information, infotainment, mapping and remote access to emergency services all require connectivity. Acquiring such information needs a network of connections linked to the Internet. In the case of IoT connection in automobiles, the network that links cars together is called Cellular Vehicle to Everything(CV2X).

Cellular Vehicle to Everything(CV2X) has two divisions, namely, device-to-device and device-to-network.

Device-to-device allows for communication such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P). These three connections provide a lot of information that can help in the prevention of accidents, collision and other road hazards. It also ensures safety of the pedestrians by giving them safety alerts.

On the other hand, Device-to-network allows for vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication. This will be achieved through cellular networks, cloud services as well as live traffic reporting and routing.

3. IoT-based Predictive maintenance

If there’s anything that can chop down the efficiency of an automobile, it is lack of maintenance. An automobile not well maintained, or not maintained at all, is at the inevitable danger of slipping into obsolescence.

To keep cars in good condition at all times, the automotive industry is incorporating IoT technology to help in the area of efficient maintenance.

Cloud computing, big data combination, IoT-powered predictive analytic tools and edge computing are some of IoT tech concepts used in gathering data for deciphering vehicles’ performance, and also for ensuring their maintenance.

Furthermore, IoT-based Predictive maintenance makes evaluation of the risks malfunctioning vehicles has. It then has the data transmitted through the cloud and has the car user notified by reducing breakdowns and allowing for easy maintenance.

The major advantages of using IoT-based Predictive maintenance are given below:

• Identification of part failures before occurrence of malfunctioning.
• Calculation of the possibility of having a vehicle repaired up to 75%.
• Accurate measurement of performance variables such as temperature, speed, navigation route and electrical system.
• Low operation costs with a pronounced safety.

4. In-vehicle Infotainment 

Infotainment is a blend of two words, information and entertainment. Information can be said to be a body of messages meant to inform someone or a group of people. Entertainment is a social activity that is aimed at cheering people up, making things lively and setting the atmosphere cool.

Now, the coinage of two words denotes the passing of information and entertainment to people simultaneously. Just as TV programs are designed for audiences at home, in-vehicle infotainment is a network of communication that combines a system that delivers information and entertainment to the driver and passengers.

Smart apps and mobile networks provide a lot of infotainment in vehicles, such as telematics, car navigation and entertainment.  There are lots of expectations that can be counted on with infotainment.

Having a car connected to a smartphone and a connected network, authenticating cars to open, close or self-start are some of the things that can be expected from infotainment.

Conclusion

No doubt, the future of IoT and automotive is inseparable. IoT is the evolved technology of the modern world. Over the years, it has made a wide impact in the automotive industry.

IoT technology is growing everyday. With such development, we can hope for nothing but its tremendous impact in the automotive industry as years go by.