The average human spends more than 45 minutes every single day in their car. From commuting to office, going back home in the evening, dropping off kids at school, to the weekly stop at the grocery store and the nearby park, the 45-minute journey is usually inclusive of the same trips and destinations.

These few minutes on a daily basis adds up to a huge number in the long run, and remaining comfortable in your vehicle, with as many convenient features as possible, is important, and the many automotive companies have been taking steps to offer just that.

Digital innovation happens to be the base for many of these initiatives, with connected cars being one of the top innovations to have a lot of expectations from experts and consumers alike.

What is Connected Car?

According to the Cognizant 20-20 Insights report, connected car is “a vehicle using mechatronics, telematics and artificial intelligence technologies to interact with the environment to provide greater safety, comfort, entertainment and, importantly, a “connected-life” experience”. In short, the car will have built-in intelligence to meet your needs and adapt to your circumstances.

For instance, one interesting and useful functionality of a connected car would be that your car automatically transmits necessary data to your dealer to monitor its performance and maintenance requirements, so you get called beforehand to hand over the vehicle for servicing or repair before you notice or experience a problem.

Connected Car Commerce Opportunities

✓ Location-based Services

The no.1 function of a car is to help people commute from one location to another. Regardless of a user’s purpose for a commute, there are a lot of aspects that need to be considered and managed, including destination, current location, traffic, fuel level, parking, driver route preferences, and schedule.

Location-based services offered by connected car have already started with providing drivers with accurate information on weather, traffic, gas, parking, and more, and the possibilities only get better for the future.

✓ Information + Entertainment

As mentioned earlier, an individual spends several minutes a day, or even a couple hours in several highly populated areas, commuting. This adds up to several thousand hours a year just behind the wheel. Hence, infotainment becomes an essential part to keep you going during your commutes. Of course, this isn’t something new; cars have been equipped with infotainment systems, from radios to satellite radios, for several decades now. Today, you have the ability to connect almost any of your digital devices to your vehicle’s infotainment system.

With connected car, drivers can expect richer experiences, thanks to the combination of the regular infotainment data and vehicle data, such as total number of passengers, miles driven with a specific time frame, average trip length, location, etc. What are the possibilities with combining these data?

✓ Following you travel patterns can help give you live weather and traffic reports, and the news as well.

✓ Content recommendations, where you could be suggested longer content for your longer commutes, say during the weekend, and shorter ones otherwise.

✓ The backseat passengers are not left out either; they can enjoy live sporting events and/or pay-per-view movies using mobile payment options.

Again, there are endless possibilities with what you can get in terms of infotainment.

✓ Streamlined Diagnostic Procedures

As mentioned earlier as an instance, remote diagnostics is another amazing application for connected car commerce and a top benefit of the same. One of the main challenges faced by dealers is the ability to have the right spare part at the time a vehicle needs to be repaired. With the connected car, the whole service process can be reformed and thus the customer experience as well.

Remote diagnostics in the connected car can easily determine when the car needs a repair or service. Furthermore, the collected data will help determine the problems with the vehicle and the parts required to fix the same, after which a the preferred or nearest dealer will be notified. This saves car owners a lot of time and hassle, because when you arrive for your service appointment, the right technician will be available to service your car, with all the required parts, eliminating the need for you to wait for specific parts to arrive, in turn minimizing the inconvenience you would normally face.

✓ Adaptable Driving Experience

Cars today come with loads of new innovative technologies, such as cruise control, heads-up display, and a lot more to make driving much easier and safer for drivers. What if your car can provide an even more personalized driving experience, learning your preferences? Yes, it is possible, with connected car.

Let’s say you always take the shortest route to work on weekdays to get to office on time, listening to the morning news. You visit your parents’ place every Friday evening, with your kids, and would like to be more safe with your driving and the route you take. A connected car can efficiently monitor and save these patterns and provide you with a completely new driving experience.

For instance, when you drive to your parents’ on a Friday evening with your kids, your navigation system will automatically warn you about a potential accident risk on your usual route and suggest a different safer route for the day. In similar ways, the system can adapt to your changing patterns and deliver a pleasant driving experience every single time.

Cars are no longer just basic transportation. From ordering and paying for your morning coffee or a dinner takeout to adapting to your driving, infotainment, and other preferences, they can do much more than you can imagine. They are now the ultimate mobile devices.