2/24/2016 

Technology-driven trends will revolutionize how industry players respond to changing consumer behavior, develop partnerships, and drive transformational change.

McKinsey -- Today’s economies are dramatically changing, triggered by development in emerging markets, the accelerated rise of new technologies, sustainability policies, and changing consumer preferences around ownership. Digitization, increasing automation, and new business models have revolutionized other industries, and automotive will be no exception. These forces are giving rise to four disruptive technology-driven trends in the automotive sector: diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity.

Most industry players and experts agree that the four trends will reinforce and accelerate one another, and that the automotive industry is ripe for disruption. Given the widespread understanding that game-changing disruption is already on the horizon, there is still no integrated perspective on how the industry will look in 10 to 15 years as a result of these trends. To that end, our eight key perspectives on the “2030 automotive revolution” are aimed at providing scenarios concerning what kind of changes are coming and how they will affect traditional vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, potential new players, regulators, consumers, markets, and the automotive value chain.

This study aims to make the imminent changes more tangible. The forecasts should thus be interpreted as a projection of the most probable assumptions across all four trends, based on our current understanding. They are certainly not deterministic in nature but should help industry players better prepare for the uncertainty by discussing potential future states.

1. Driven by shared mobility, connectivity services, and feature upgrades, new business models could expand automotive revenue pools by about 30 percent, adding up to $1.5 trillion.

The automotive revenue pool will significantly increase and diversify toward on-demand mobility services and data-driven services. This could create up to $1.5 trillion—or 30 percent more—in additional revenue potential in 2030, compared with about $5.2 trillion from traditional car sales and aftermarket products/services, up by 50 percent from about $3.5 trillion in 2015.

Connectivity, and later autonomous technology, will increasingly allow the car to become a platform for drivers and passengers to use their time in transit to consume novel forms of media and services or dedicate the freed-up time to other personal activities. The increasing speed of innovation, especially in software-based systems, will require cars to be upgradable. As shared mobility solutions with shorter life cycles will become more common, consumers will be constantly aware of technological advances, which will further increase demand for upgradability in privately used cars as well.

Read the rest here: http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/disruptive-trends-that-will-transform-the-auto-industry

JPost -- Japanese motor company, Honda, made its formal entrance in Israel's tech market, seeking local technology for connected cars at the OurCrowd annual summit.

“Our presence at this conference is actually Honda’s first formal entrance to Israel’s technology community. Having come here from silicon valley, I can tell you that I’m very impressed with the innovative and entrepreneurial culture and spirit of the start-up nation,” said Nick Sugimoto, the Senior Program Director of Honda's Silicon Valley Lab.

Honda, he said, was searching for Israeli technology to develop smart car apps through its Honda Developer Studio, and others to participate in its accelerator program called Honda XCelerator. The eventual goal, he added, was to eventually make Honda vehicles completely collision free.

OurCrowd, an equity crowd-funding platform, presented several companies working in the connected car space. VocalZoom, for example, offers a voice recognition system that uses lasers to detect vocal vibration and separate words out from background noise. The company expects the technology to be available in cars by 2018, which will help drivers keep their eyes on the road while dealing with their car's various functions.

Read the rest here: http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Tech/Honda-comes-to-Israel-for-connected-car-tech-442694

Information-Age -- The bookies have predicted that we’re headed for a white Christmas - great news for those who like a picture perfect festive season, but what about those whose job it is to be out on the road?

Plummeting temperatures, ice and sludge and plus poor visibility all make driving even more dangerous. But drivers such as those delivering Christmas presents, service companies fixing broken down cars and those maintaining power lines, will all be out and about, no matter what the weather.

Winter amplifies safety concerns on the road, but there is actually a lot of innovation through tech that is aiming to improve the safety of fleets all year round, no matter the weather.

For example, Samsung has been developing an idea that could make a big difference to fleet and road safety. The Korean tech giant recently blogged about its new ‘Safety Truck’ which uses four screens attached to the back of a trailer to display the view in front to vehicles behind.

Samsung says this is to help traffic behind large vehicles make informed decisions about overtaking, sudden braking or even animals on the road.

Supported by Volvo, it's at prototype stage with trials taking place in Argentina, a country where head-on collisions caused by overtaking is one of the biggest contributors to road deaths.

But prototype or not, it’s a concept that has the safety of all road users at its core - which means there is every chance we will see this kind of innovation come to UK roads soon.

This is undoubtedly forward-thinking from Samsung, but it’s actually just the tip of the iceberg in terms of tech innovations designed to advance road and fleet safety.

Telematics is one tech solution that is playing an increasing role in fleet safety, with platforms that now analyse a driver’s style and provide feedback to both managers and drivers in real time. This helps correct the likes of harsh acceleration and braking in real-time, before they become a safety issue.

- See more at: http://www.information-age.com/industry/services/123460545/how-tech-transforming-road-safety-fleet-drivers-winter#sthash.5eW3jgUT.dpuf

Geek Wire, May 31, 2016 -- Ditch the license plate holder that says you love your pug or your honor student and try on a new piece of car technology that could actually make you a better driver.

The FenSens smart license plate frame is designed for anyone who wants to add the safety advantage of high-tech parking sensors without paying the high price of new-car packages or aftermarket installs.

The wireless FenSens — at an early-bird price of $99 ($50 off) — installs in under 5 minutes with the use of four security screws (special screwdriver included) and connects via Bluetooth to the free iOS or Android app. The app provides audio, visual, and vibration alerts to the driver when an object, such as a car, is detected in the car’s rear blind spot.

The frame comes with a rechargeable battery that lasts 5 months and can be recharged via USB by popping out the battery pack and charging it indoors.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

NBC News, 3/27/2016 -- As part of a unique industry-government consortium, American motorists will soon find virtually every car, truck and crossover on the market equipped with a breakthrough safety system called Automatic Emergency Braking.

But that's likely to be only the start. The same group of 20 automakers, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, plans to push even more advanced safety technology into tomorrow's cars faster than would normally be possible under the slow and cumbersome regulatory process.

Experts say such moves — which will help lead up to an era of fully autonomous vehicles — could yield huge benefits in terms of lives saved, as well property damage prevented.

Autonomous Emergency Braking, or AEB, alone has been shown to reduce the number of rear-end collisions by as much as 40 percent, according to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind earlier this year suggested it may be possible to bring the total number of U.S. highway fatalities — which topped 32,000 in 2014 — down to zero in the not-too-distant future.

To get there, automotive manufacturers and suppliers are taking a two-pronged approach, starting with improvements in passive safety — systems like seat belts and airbags designed to keep occupants safe in a crash. The latest vehicles are expanding the use of high-strength steel, carbon fiber and other materials which, along with new designs, absorb much of the energy of a crash before it reaches the passenger compartment. 

Read the rest here: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/technology-taking-auto-safety-next-level-n544841