Richard Wallace
Tomorrow’s connected cars will be more than just technologically advanced — they will also create better connected dealer and customer relationships, says Richard Wallace, Transportation Systems Analysis, Center for Automotive Research (CAR), and the moderator for the Connected Car session at the 3rd annual CADA Summit held Feb. 11, 2015 in Toronto.
Although when this “hyperconnectivity” will happen and exactly what it will look like is still up for debate, there’s no question it’s coming, says Wallace. Joining the discussion at the CADA Summit will also be Dr. Zhi-Jun (Tony) Qui, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, and Dr. Peter Frise, Auto21 Scientific Director and CEO.
Wallace says the panel will touch on the various issues and questions surrounding connected car technology that the auto industry is attempting to figure out.
Some of these issues include cyber security for vehicles, embedded apps or those running on mobile, whether mobile data plans are necessary, and how to prevent against driver distraction — an area of growing concern already. “I think we need to be aware of the trends and how things could progress if the right pieces fall in place,” says Wallace.
One of these trends that CAR is researching is safety and crash avoidance, says Wallace. One unique research initiative looks into crowdsourcing and how a department of transportation and road operators can harness connected technologies to pinpoint traffic issues and detect problems with road surfaces. This becomes particularly useful in the winter in countries like Canada during storms.
While the public has a good understanding about the various technologies on the market for infotainment systems, there is less information available about safety technologies and how they work, says Wallace. “We need to get a sense of how people will respond to crash avoidance before you make it a mandated vehicle technology.”
Besides safety issues, Wallace hopes to bring up data usage and its policy and privacy issues, another hot topic in the connected car conversation. Dealers and OEMs need to find that fine line between providing useful information to consumers, and tracking them.
Even though the industry is far from knowing exactly how these technologies and capabilities will play out, Wallace says that there are many opportunities for dealers to leverage the information from these connected technologies. Being privy to diagnostics that OEMs can pass on will help dealers strengthen relationships with customers.
For dealers, the challenge will be that they need a solid salesforce and maintenance team in place to be able to handle customer questions and keep up with the repairs and updates for these connected vehicle technologies.
The connected car discussions are only one part of the jam-packed CADA Summit event. It will include keynote speeches from Google Global Automotive Lead Joe Maciariello, former city of Toronto Director of Urban Planning Ken Greenberg, and Mike Jackson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AutoNation, to name a few.
Organizers expect this year’s event to be sold out for the second straight year, so to grab your seat you had better register early. Visit: www.cadasummit.ca for full details and to register.
