By John Bugailiskis
LAS VEGAS – There are more than 1.3 billion cars worldwide, and the pursuit of self-driving cars is transforming how vehicles are designed and developed.
According to Microsoft, by the end of 2020, 90% of new cars will have connectivity capabilities. The connected car is the foundation for new digital business models and revenue streams worth billions, possibly trillions of dollars. Add in the increasing value of driver data and automakers face a choice: “become data companies or become irrelevant,” according to the software giant.
In recent years CES in Las Vegas has officially taken over as one of the most important events for automakers to debut new products and technologies early in the new year. This year, announcements ranged from Sony launching an electric concept car to Hyundai partnering with Uber to build flying taxis as part of the new Uber Elevate urban air travel service. Beyond these concept product launches, however, which almost never make it to market, it’s more helpful to follow the automotive OEMS here and who they are partnering with to drive the development of connected cars.
At CES over the last few years, the concept of a connected car has evolved into information-enveloped automobiles that offer drivers and passengers a range of experiences, increasingly enhanced by artificial intelligence and intuitive interfaces and the promise of 5G wireless speed and low latency. No single automaker can create the connected car of the future on its own (some have tried have failed) and as a result a true mobility ecosystem is quickly emerging. OEMs have traditionally worked hand-in-hand with tier-one (or direct) suppliers, but today this has rapidly expanded to high-tech players which include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google.
This is because for future mobility and in-car experiences, software will play an increasingly critical role. Microsoft has partnered with car makers including Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Audi, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, to co-develop infotainment systems. Amazon is also working with Audi, Toyota, Ford, and others to include Alexa into dozens of models.
At CES 2020, Amazon announced it is expanding its Fire TV Edition program across multiple categories including automotive (partnering with BMW and Fiat) and Smart TVs. This will enable living room-like experiences in the car with hands-free access to Alexa, a touchscreen interface and offline playback capabilities. Content can be recorded with Fire TV Recast or saved locally on-device, or streamed over a vehicle’s Wi-Fi, LTE, mobile hotspot or any WAN-enabled device. Amazon claims that Fire TV now has over 40 million active users.
“Adding Fire TV to future BMW vehicles represents a big step in bringing the best of streamed entertainment to our products. With Amazon’s approach, and with the help of Garmin, we are able to innovate and create a unique and special experience for BMW cars, providing the consistency of content and customer experience that Fire TV provides in the home. We look forward to working closely with Amazon to bring Fire TV to future vehicles,” said Fathi El-Dwaik, Vice President User Interaction, Business Line My Car and Business Line My Life, BMW Group.
(Ed note: Yah… who needs to pay attention to the road, anyway…)
Fire TV is also enabling carriers to bring Fire TV Edition devices to their customers in a more customized and cost-effective way. After successfully introducing Fire TV partnerships with Tata Sky in India and Verizon in the United States, Fire TV is expanding the device offerings available to “operators, allowing them to choose the best solution that fits their customer and business needs as well as providing merchandising opportunities in the Fire TV Edition customer experience,” said Amazon in a news release.
Starting this year, Tesla announced its new in-car infotainment center, dubbed Tesla Theater, will feature YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and Bilibili, a Chinese youth-focused entertainment platform. Tesla Theater will be available on all Tesla models globally, including the new Tesla Cybertruck. Tesla is one of the few automakers to have built its own infotainment system.
“If you can make your vehicle a platform for other services and for other companies, there’s a lot of money for you.” – Will Kaufman, Edmunds
“It gives [Tesla] more control over their vehicle as a platform for other services, for things like Netflix,” said Will Kaufman, content strategist at Edmunds to CNBC. “If you can make your vehicle a platform for other services and for other companies, there’s a lot of money for you.”
The driving force behind the addition of Bilibili is the high demand from Tesla’s Chinese customers, many of whom are Bilibili users. Bilibili specializes in content targeting Chinese millennials and Generation Z. In Tesla Theater, users can only access the streaming service when the car is in parking mode and connected to Wi-Fi, making the system ideal for waiting drivers and passengers at a Tesla Supercharger station.
“The inside of an automobile is going to become increasingly more of an entertainment opportunity. We are aware that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is serious about creating an in-car infotainment system that provides ‘the most amount of fun you can have in a car,'” said Wang Hao, Vice President of Bilibili’s Technology Center. “And creating fun is what Bilibili specializes in.”
For Hyundai, as mentioned, its future envisions flying cars (Ed note: which are really still just planes or helicopters with a new name), and at CES it announced it had teamed up with Uber to build them (pictured above). Uber has been talking up its plans for Uber Elevate since 2016, but at CES it said it will conduct the first public demonstration of a flying car this year and permit customers to book aerial rides by 2023. Analysts with Morgan Stanley believe urban air taxis will be a common sight by 2040, with the global market expected to be between $1.4 trillion and $2.9 trillion in size by then.
The compact aircraft, which seats five, including the pilot, features four electrically driven props in a vertical orientation, similar to a quadcopter drone. The flying taxi is designed to take off and land vertically, with a range of 60 miles and a top speed of 290 km/h. “Our vision of urban air mobility will transform the concept of urban transportation,” said Jaiwon Shin, head of Hyundai’s urban air mobility division.
It’s tough to top “flying cars”, but at Toyota’s press conference the chief executive Akio Toyoda announced it will be trying invent the future by building a 175-acre “Woven City” powered by hydrogen fuel cells and designed from the ground up for 2,000 residents at the base of Mount Fuji.
Envisioned as a “living laboratory,” the Woven City (right) will serve as a home to full-time residents and researchers who will be able to test and develop autonomous technologies such as robotics, personal mobility, smart homes and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment.
“Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city’s infrastructure. With people, buildings and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI technology… in both the virtual and the physical realms … maximizing its potential,” explained Toyoda.
Toyota will extend an open invitation to collaborate with other commercial and academic partners and invite interested scientists and researchers from around the world to come work on their own projects in this one-of-a-kind, real-world incubator. The groundbreaking for the site is planned for early 2021.
To move residents (Ed note: Experimental guinea pigs?) through the city, only fully-autonomous, zero-emission vehicles will be allowed on the main thoroughfares. In and throughout Woven City, autonomous Toyota e-Palettes will be used for transportation and deliveries, as well as for changeable mobile retail.
As is the case with many big announcements at CES, Toyota didn’t reveal costs or when this Woven City will be completed. Akio referred to the project as his “personal field of dreams,” that can benefit everyone. Hopefully he’s setting aside room for a field of corn, just in case.
Ed note: And perhaps some thought to personal privacy, should people still want that…
