German automotive supplier Continental has entered into a collaboration agreement with technology giant IBM.
At the Frankfurt IAA International Auto Show this week, Continental AG and IBM announced a collaboration agreement to jointly develop fully-connected mobile vehicle solutions for car manufacturers around the world.
From the press release:
Dirk Wollschläger, General Manager Global Automotive Industry, IBM said: “Realization of the fully connected vehicle requires technology expertise across Big Data, embedded intelligence and the ability to deliver services over a highly scalable cloud platform. As innovators in our respective fields, Continental and IBM will accelerate the convergence of automotive and IT industries, enabling car manufacturers to integrate multimedia mobile services personalized in-car experience, infotainment and traffic flow management to the realization of a truly connected car.”
“Today’s car owners are completely rethinking their mobility needs and expect their vehicles to deliver the same capabilities and conveniences as other smart devices. This means drivers are not only looking for quality, safe, reliable performance, but also see the motor car as a highly personalized extension of their daily and digitally connected lives” stated Wollschläger.
This is IBM’s second announcement around connected cars in the last couple of months; it’s a key area of focus for us as part of the MobileFirst initiative. When I think about what “mobile” means in the future, it’s not just smartphones and tablets, but the whole realm of machine-to-machine activity in what is quickly becoming a mainstream thought around the “Internet of Things.”
Analysts tell us that the connected car is expected to be the largest market driving apps for the Internet of Things through 2020. This is the result of two trends coming together in the marketplace. First, the number of sensors and complex software inside connected cars is increasing dramatically, resulting in vehicles producing more data than ever before. At the same time, connectivity is becoming a common feature for newly launched vehicles. Now, consumers expect mobility to seamlessly translate to all of their daily tasks: from home, to their automobiles, office, etc.
Working with Continental, we envision a whole range of innovations in the connected car arena. It’s too soon to get into specifics, but I can tell you from the IBM side that this is a project backed by the commitment of several general managers and senior engineering staff, and Continental is an expert partner in networked automobile communication.
Looking for some of this in action? We have set up a demo website which you can check out for details.
Photo credit: Auto Guide
Via Ed Brill
