A Beginner’s Guide To The Internet Of Things, Connected Cars And The Future Of Mobility
Few would argue with the statement that the world we live in is becoming increasingly communication and connectivity-centric. The 21st Century began with the general adoption of text messages and email, and in 2017 we are witnessing the global adoption of connected devices around our homes and workplaces.
Acknowledging the speed of these developments over the last two decades, it’s hard to deny the fact that we’re moving closer to a fully-connected future every single day.
But what does this mean? And where do cars fit into this picture? What are the benefits to consumers of driving a so-called “smart” or “connected car”?
In this post we want to answer fundamental questions about the Internet of Things, connected cars, what we can expect from the future of mobility and how we’re going to get there.
Let’s start with some basics.
What Is The Internet Of Things?
Although you may have been previously unfamiliar with the phrase “Internet of Things”, you have almost certainly seen or interacted with a device which comes under this umbrella term.
The Internet of Things is the name given to the concept of connecting any device — a lamp, a fridge, anything you can think of — to the Internet. We have seen this concept grow into the digitalization and connectivity of many household appliances and products over the course of the last decade. Back in 2012 there were already some eight to ten billion things believed to be connected to the internet, and that number continues to grow year on year. Some have even predicted that by 2020 there will be 24 billion connected devices installed — in other words, 4 devices per human.
The IoT movement isn’t confined to personal or household items, however. As the technology has developed over time, becoming smaller and simpler to implement, the number of objects which can be operated remotely via a smart device has increased. No longer is it just the office temperature which can be controlled remotely using an iPad, even machines like jet engines and telescopes can be operated via the internet using a connected device. The crucial aspect is the ‘on/off’ switch of the item in question. If it has this switch, it can almost certainly become a part of the Internet of Things. By definition this means that almost every electrical device could join the enormous and ever-growing network of connected objects.
The Internet of Things can roughly be divided into two categories.
- Internet of Me
Things that communicate to you and the Internet via your smartphone. If you, with your smartphone, are not nearby then the thing is disconnected from the rest of the world. Typical devices today are smartwatches and fitness trackers.
2. Everything else
This is in the truest sense things that are directly connected to the Internet.
Criticisms of The IoT
For some individuals, the idea of a future where many, if not all, of our devices and personal items are connected to one another as well as to us, is a terrifying thought. The potential opportunities for companies to take advantage of our data, and hackers to infiltrate our networks could plausibly grow at the same rate as the number of items it will be possible to connect, that is, if legislation and security frameworks aren’t enforced from the outset. The implications for security, personal data, and privacy are seemingly without end.
Security
Security is probably one of the first potential pitfalls that comes to mind when we think of the Internet of Things. An increase in connected devices automatically increases the number of entry points and opportunities for criminals.
“Talking with large enterprises it is evident that the slow adoption of the Internet of Things is due to security concerns.”
— Kevin Valdek, co-founder & CTO, HIGH MOBILITY
If hackers could potentially gain access to our smart devices as well as our phones or computers, what hope do we have of keeping our bank details, health records or other private information out of their hands? Even if we don’t get attacked personally, our devices could be being used by criminals without our knowledge or consent.
On a larger scale, the potential security risk (particularly in relation to the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)) is perhaps the most frightening and could genuinely risk lives. While some are calling for government legislation, there are already a number of companies working on solutions to tighten up the security of connected devices.
Privacy
Aside from the more obvious criminal exploitation of the opportunities presented by the Internet of Things, what is perhaps equally as worrying to users is the potential, though not necessary illegal, use of our consumer and personal data by companies, governments and institutions.
Not only could this collection and interpretation of our data through our digital devices be unwanted by consumers, it could in theory be done entirely without our knowledge. This data could then be used by, for example, insurance companies in determining which policies we are allowed to take out or by universities when deciding between applicants.
Public Perceptions of Privacy in IoT Future
It’s still not clear exactly what the impact will be on our personal privacy when embarking on this connected future. What is clear though, is that if the public perception of how privacy may be breached doesn’t change, the IoT will struggle to take off at all.
Changing public perception will be the first port of call for many manufacturers. In 2015 it was reported that 44% of all Americans were “very concerned” about the possibility of their information getting stolen from their smart home, and 27% were “somewhat concerned.” Consumers will need to be reassured that their data will be safe, confidential and not at risk of being sold on before they confidentially purchase IoT devices. Even if the technology is ready, without general public acceptance, the industry will go nowhere.
Putting privacy concerns in perspective
Despite the privacy concerns outlined above, there is a growing school of thought calling for a bit of perspective. As Adam Thierer wrote in his powerful article “Putting Privacy Concerns About The Internet of Things In Perspective, many companies will no doubt be unwilling to risk trust (and the revenue that brings) by invading consumer privacy in the ways previously mentioned.
He says:
“The connected home is a potential treasure trove of data for third parties such as home and health insurance providers. However, companies will consider data about consumers in their homes a “third rail,” wherein revenue potential does not come close to offsetting the risk of negative reaction from customers.”
Why Is The IoT A Positive Thing?
Despite these concerns, when looking to the future there is undoubtedly a cacophony of positives that could potentially stem from the IoT. Industries ranging from education through to health could reap huge rewards from having access to so much data, rewards which would benefit and enhance the lives of individuals the world over. On a personal level, our everyday interactions could be made much more seamless with the aid of connected devices.
The following are just a few examples of how the IoT could impact on our futures in both small and big ways.
- If the ambulance is connected to a computer at the hospital, data about the exact physical state — not to mention medical history — of an emergency patient could be transferred to the hospital before the ambulance has even arrived, allowing the doctors and nurses to prepare everything they need for that person’s tailormade care.
- Try to imagine a world where your coffee machine is connected to your alarm clock. If your coffee machine knows when you have woken up it can start brewing your coffee and have it ready by the time you are out of bed and ready for breakfast without you having to move a muscle.
- If your fridge was connected to your online shopping account, it could reorder items like milk or cheese when you are running low on them without you having to check, remember, order them or go shopping, ensuring you are never without your favourite or regular groceries again.
- If your work meeting overruns, the meeting room at your office could alert the rest of your colleagues. An automatic notification would mean there’s no need for you to disrupt the flow of your meeting to send that email or notification yourself.
- On a much larger scale, when we think of smart cities the possible improvements to quality of life not to mention sustainable, economic development are endless.
“New developments would allow connected cars to link up with smart city infrastructure to create an entirely different ecosystem for the driver, who is simply used to the traditional way of getting from Point A to Point B.”
What Is A Connected Car?
Now that we’ve covered the basics of the Internet of Things and explored the positives and negatives of the technology including how potential obstacles may be avoided or overcome, it’s time to focus on one area of the IoT which particularly interests us at HIGH MOBILITY: connected cars.
So what is a connected car? If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably already worked out the answer to this question:
When we turn our attention to the automobile industry, it’s not hard to see the number of advantages drivers, passengers, travellers, manufacturers and services could gain from a connected future. And it’s closer than you might think:
“Today, the technologies behind conneсted cars are evolving rapidly. It is amazing how fast they are merging with other IoT technologies around us, such as those found in smart homes, smart cities, etc. With the rise of electric vehicles and accelerated development cycles, the future is happening right here, right now.”
— Alex Khizhniak, Director of Technical Evangelism, Altoros
What Can We Expect From Connected Cars?
Personalised driver and passenger experience
In many areas of our lives we are seeing a trend in users whereby they value the experience of interacting with a product as highly as the product’s original intended purpose. We have witnessed this already with digital interfaces, customer services and retail. Increasingly, users are just as interested (if not more interested) in how it feels to use and interact with a product and the company which provides it, as they are with the primary use of the product itself.
For the car user, very soon the experience of driving and being a passenger in a car will precede the make, model or appearance of a vehicle. Ideally, though, both physical and digital developments will work together to create the ultimate, not to mention safest, driving experience.
In this experience-focused future, car makers will need to develop services and applications which offer personalised driving options, or build technology into cars that is compatible with the services and applications being built by developers. Software opportunities are going to determine the popularity of certain vehicles over others. As car makers begin to understand this the more they will be able to tailor-make specific experiences for the user into the software offered in each car.
“When you integrate smart cars into smart cities, you have cars that move seamlessly through intersections, instantly make way for emergency vehicles, self-report any accident, know the best places to park — and how to come get you when you’re ready for your next ride.”
— Glen Gilmore, speaker and author on IoT technologies
Data acquisition and application
There will be an almost limitless amount of high-quality data generated by connected vehicles which both drivers and manufacturers can learn from. Manufacturers can learn more about their user’s behaviour and preferences in order to continue to improve their experiences, while drivers themselves can learn about their own driving behaviour as well as how to use their vehicle at its most optimal. Potential business opportunities and governmental policy decisions based on these data points abound, but the question of user privacy and the ethics of buying and selling user data will first need to be addressed.
“The benefits of connected vehicle technologies are crucial to addressing the 94% of car crashes that are caused in some part by human error. But we need to foster transparency and communication around consumer data use in order to deploy them responsibly. Conversations between lawmakers, consumers, and businesses need to go beyond the current day technologies and focus on building trustworthy data practices — and communicating them to consumers — as vehicles advance.”
Driverless cars
It sounds strange to us now, but it won’t be too long before driverless cars are a very real part of our lives. Using voice-responsive systems like Alexa or Siri, cars could be instructed using voice commands to pre-set locations, or by the user simply typing an address into their phone. The benefits to the elderly and disabled are particularly noteworthy and although the technology is likely to be built with these groups in mind, it will be quickly adopted in every section of society once the benefits are clear. Cars which might otherwise sit unused while the owner is at work could be used to transport others on a pay-per-use basis.
“Driverless car technologies already beat humans in the driver’s seat when it comes to safety. The few accidents we read about nearly always come back to human error. Take the human out of the controls and the experience becomes safer.”
— Glen Gilmore, speaker and author on IoT technologies
Increased prominence of electric cars
As more users become aware of the impact petrol-fuelled cars are having on the environment, they will be turning to electric vehicles as an increasingly credible alternative. All electric cars are inherently connected (ie, smart), meaning they are set up for connectivity with user’s devices as well as other cars. An increase in electric cars due to user environmental concerns will mean an automatic increase in connected cars.
This link between smart cars and electric cars could very well mean that the trend to buy electric cars over petrol-fueled cars increases, as users associate the benefits of a internet-connected vehicles with the environmental benefits of electric vehicles. It is predominantly technology and environment-conscious individuals who are leading the buying trends in new vehicles, both smart and electronic.
“What we see in a connected car is only a tip of an iceberg. Many technologies behind smart vehicles spread to other areas of our lives, improving them, as well. Things like machine learning can be applied to almost every industry, so it’s not only about cars. The whole ‘Industry 4.0’ trend is, indeed, a revolution.”
— Alex Khizhniak, Director of Technical Evangelism, Altoros.
How Will Connected Cars Happen?
Now that we’ve established what we might expect from connected cars of the future, how are we going to get there?
Software development
On the journey towards connected cars becoming an everyday reality, the most crucial point to be addressed is software availability, in other words: enabling developers with the right tools and working environments to build apps for cars in.
Developers who are interested in building apps for connected cars don’t have the right software themselves to test their apps and services. Due to the number of different car models, each with different features and capabilities, a one-size-fits-all solution is an absolute must.
What’s happening right now:
Developer environments are already available for the creation and testing of applications for the next generation of automobiles. Car emulators allow developers to work in a true-to-life environment where they can collaborate, innovate, build and test their apps, without needing to interact with real vehicles. Through innovative networks and partnerships with car manufacturers — founded via this bridging platform — developers are able to work with car emulators which have the exact specifications of real world models.
In short, right now developers can access the tools they need to test their applications in a virtual environment, ready for a real-life one.
Technology in cars
From a technological standpoint, what’s crucial to the success of the connected car is that the software inside the car, and hardware development, is decoupled from the services that the car can offer.
Today carmakers have to essentially decide very early on in a car’s development (which typically takes between 5 and 7 years) which services will be enabled.
What’s happening right now:
A solution to the issue of decoupling technology and software within the car from the services it can offer is the adoption of a universal Application Programming Interface (API). Services can be decoupled by car makers having access to APIs, specifically a universal API. This interface can add, remove and change services in the entire lifespan of a car, even when it has hit the road.
This solution is groundbreaking because of it can be used in every kind of vehicle, irrespective of brand or model. With auto APIs, the compatibility of the car and its technology is no longer an issue.
Global community of developers building for cars
The future of connected cars is reliant upon passionate application developers. Car makers need to harness this talent, excite developers to build apps for cars and offer them platforms for collaboration and innovation.
Why?
Because without the engagement of an active, global developer community, car manufacturers will struggle to emulate the organically-generated, innovative testing ground which successful apps are borne out of.
In the end developers will decide the winning digital platform for cars simply by building services for it. We cannot assume that the biggest car companies today will have the biggest developer and service ecosystems in the future.
What’s happening right now:
Carmakers are already making steps in the right direction. Many are tapping into developer communities through developer programs, in doing so addressing the challenge of growing significant relationships with teams of app developers who are passionate about building for cars. In addition to the work of carmakers, facilitating platforms like HIGH MOBILITY and others are bringing together developers and manufacturers through the promotion of a virtual environment within which both sides can learn from one another and collaborate.
Security concerns from the public
Security concerns both real and perceived will need to be addressed by the automobile developer community. The perception of weak or vulnerable security systems, or a general distrust of data usage by corporations or institutions could slow down progress in the development and adoption of new technologies. As we’re all aware, user acceptance will make or break a new product so addressing these concerns will need to become a priority among car makers and developers.
What’s happening right now:
Key players in the industry have fully accepted the need to prioritize the security concerns of the public, like hacking, privacy, data collection and the transference of user data between companies, agencies or data aggregators without the user’s knowledge or permission.
“Privacy and cybersecurity protections should be baked into every IoT device at the design phase. Uniform safeguards must be established, enforced and vigorously updated. We must be ready for the reality that the “Internet of Everything” ushers in the “Hacking of Everything”.”
— Glen Gilmore, speaker and author on IoT technologies
To tackle these legitimate risks, risks which increase with every single device connected to the internet, not to mention the legitimate fears which arise from them, connected car companies have adopted the most up-to-date security standards of banking, voting and e-government services and made them compatible with internet-ready cars.
These standards reassure users that only the apps or services that they have been authorised have access to their data, leaving the user in complete control of who sees what. In addition, the data they have allowed others to access is end-to-end encrypted to guarantee complete data security. At any time this access can be revoked by the user, further increasing personal control and user autonomy.
“Implement an end-to end security approach. Cars have more connection points than ever before — from communicating with the cloud, connecting to servers hosted by the manufacturer to streaming entertainment for passengers. More connection points means more opportunity to exploit security vulnerabilities. A layered, end-to-end security approach can minimize these risks.”
— Chris Penrose, Senior Vice President, Internet of Things @ AT&T Mobility in his article “A roadmap for connected car security” for IoT Agenda, TechTarget
Conclusion
It’s undeniable that we are well on our way towards a fully-connected future, with not only cars but entire cities looking to embrace becoming completely internet-enabled over the coming decade.
Despite concerns over security and privacy, solutions are already being found to ensure that personal security and autonomy remain within the user’s control, with end-to-end encryption securing data and allowing users to choose who to give their information to and under what circumstances.
The main challenge facing IoT companies right now seems to be addressing the concerns of the public, educating users on developments in the field and reassuring them of the structures being put in place to keep them and their data safe.
Once this hurdle has been overcome, acceptance of connected devices will significantly increase, costs will come down and we are likely to see the IoT enter its next phase of everyday adoption.
Watch this space!
