Latest Tech Trends #1 Internet of Things - Connected Car

Hi Steemers,

Here is the first post in my series “The 10 Latest Trends in Technology”. I hope you guys will enjoy it :)

The first technology trend that I want to talk about is “Internet of Things” (IoT)

What is Internet of Things? This is my favorite definition from Business Insider :

“A network of internet-connected objects able to collect and exchange data using embedded sensors”.

Simply put, all devices can be connected and are able to send information to each other via the internet. For example: when your alarm clock goes off, it can start your coffeemaker so that you have fresh coffee when you go into the kitchen. Another example is when the printers in your office are running low on supply, they can automatically reorder without any human interfere.

Besides saving time, cost, and labor, Internet of Things along with big data will be incredibly powerful in analyzing current solutions and predicting future trends. IoT will make a huge impact on businesses (as the top adopter) , the government (the second largest adopter) , and individual consumers like us.

Let's take smart car as an example to illustrate the impacts of IoT on businesses - government and us.

Imagine when you get inside your car, the temperature will be exactly the same as in your house. At the same time, you will receive the notification about which way is the fastest to get to work as well as which parking space will be available by the time you get there. You are even able to book the parking space with voice command via your phone. All real-time information are collected from all cars and sensors around the city.

Source

Now, what happen when you are driving your car is even more amazing. There is an Internet of Things platform integrating data from many parts of every car so the car companies can predict industry specific needs, improve their asset management system, factory production, service delivery, more and more.

There are many sensors embedded in different parts of your car which will communicate to each other constantly and send information to you as well as to the central hub of your car company. Let's say when the sensor detects that your brake will need to be fixed soon, it will send the information to the car company's platform, which will automatically process its database including warehouse, logistics, human resource, operation, marketing, etc and then send notification to your phone with the appropriate schedule, the most convenient service location and even a coupon.
When you confirm the schedule, the system will order and deliver the item from the warehouse to the service location to make sure it will be available when you arrive. All are automatically, cool right? Soon, you will not need to worry every time you have an emergency tyre breakdown in the middle of nowhere, your car will automatically send the notification to the nearest services to come and rescue you.

Source

Internet of Things and the car industry
Obviously, all the car industry are trying to utilize Internet of Things for their technology development.

Volkswagen, whose pride is safety has announced to launch new feature which keep the drivers awake or protect them if they fall asleep while driving.
The alarm will be activated based on analysis of collected data from driving pattern of the driver and sensors of the wheels. Even if the driver has no sign to wake up, the car will try to steer or park the car.

Besides Volkswagen, Lexus and SasB are also utilizing cameras to track driver's face and eyes movements to make sure he is not falling to sleep. Volvo Driver Alert Control is using sensors to analyze the vehicle's position and movements between lances to detect driver's sleepiness and alert him.

Source

There are many ongoing experiments with connected car all over the world currently to solve many problems. As you all known all the big automobile companies are working on disruptive innovation called self-driving car with the ambition to reduce the rate of car accidents caused by humans to 0%. (I will talk about this tech trend in my next post)

How about Government ? What benefits they can get from "the connected car" ?
New York is a good example of smart car in a smart city. New York city has implemented a connected car project which began in 2015. The goal of this project was to record and analyze where drivers made frequent sudden stops or sharp turns because of traffic patterns. By reviewing this data, officials are able to improve certain traffic conditions and alleviate some traffic patterns.

The study "Connected car 2025" by Bosch has calculated the impact of connect car in the US, German and China and released some very interesting numbers.

• Over 260,000 accidents involving personal injuries (US: 210,000, China: 20,000, Germany: 30,000) will be avoided annually – as many accidents as occur within two years in Germany’s capital city of Berlin.

• 350,000 fewer people injured by traffic accidents – the same as 12 years without traffic injuries in Los Angeles. In the US alone, there will be 290,000 fewer (China: 25,000, Germany: 37,000).

• Up to EUR 4.43 billion in material and damage costs will be saved by connected assistance systems. This is nearly double the sum spent by the Chinese government in 2016 to improve air quality in Beijing.

• Nearly 400,000 tons of CO² will be spared – as much as the Black Forest national park in Germany can process in three years. This is because community-based parking and active parking lot management will reduce parking traffic by up to 480 million kilometers, while highly automated driving saves additional fuel.

And this might be the most interesting to you :P

Source

Source:
Thedrive | Bosch | howstuffworks | Business Insider

I hope this post has been useful for you, please leave some comment so we can discuss more. In my next post I will talk about Smart Home and Smart City :)