How Will Consumers Benefit From Connected Cars?

a presentation from Verizon (this is 5 yrs. ago), an example they used was you are driving and you need to park your car in a garage. You make such a selection from your car, and your car almost drives itself into the garage. You are now able to shave, text, email, do makeup on the way.

imho one serious disadvantage is that the mfg. can attempt to shut down those who work on their own cars, i.e. force them to pay for service.

I use the factory software to service one of my cars. The difference is at the dealership, the same software is connected to the mfg. in Germany. Mine, is not.

Translated this means that instead of having a computer in the car, which tells you that you need an inspection, brake fluid, microcabin filter, oil change, spark plugs, etc., this info is known at the mfg. level. Oh, you waited until 45,000.1 to change your plugs? That is outside the recommended interval by 1/10 mile, and your warranty is hereby voided.

We need to push for disconnected cars.

Having been involved with connected vehicles for 9 years before I retired, I will state there is a lot of hogwash in the prognostications.

Connected vehicles operate in licensed spectrum and are limited to very low power. A lot of what the magazine article states could never be done over the spectrum assigned for connected vehicles because of the archaic protocol designated for this function by the IEEE and the extremely low power levels for both the roadside and vehicular equipment set by the FCC.

All the infotainment features including mapping would have to be provided by a cellular service controlled by the big players, the cell companies, Cisco, Qualcomm and the like. Data transferred between vehicles and to or from roadside stations is limited to location messages (Here I am), emergency status messages(slamming the brakes, airbag deployment, etc.), and right-of-way messages from emergency responders.

Messages to and from the roadside will primarily be local weather conditions, (ice, road water levels,) and collecting tolls. Roadside equipment will also collect information from vehicles such as if the wipers and lights are on and if the vehicle has detected any skidding due to slick road conditions. From that information, the count of cars and the average time a vehicle is in contact with a particular piece of roadside equipment such things as average speeds and travel times can be determined and resent to the vehicles for trip planning.

While the USDOT is looking into mandating all vehicles be equipped to send the data between vehicles and the roadside, no funds have been allocated for the installation of any roadside equipment.

I think there is little doubt that the consumer would benefit from a "connected" vehicle should it become a reality.

My concerns are these:

1 - Will it contribute to the distracted driving problem?

2 - Will law enforcement use it to issue tickets to speeders etc?

3 - Will advertisers use data to send targeted ads to consumers?

4 - Will I be able to turn it off if I so Desire?

The answer will depend on how the unit is designed/installed in the vehicle. The pilot units had a display as a warning and I believe made a sound when an alert/emergency message was present. The last thinking was the display could provide a countdown timer for green lights letting the driver know how many seconds before an equipped signal in an intersection would change. The display would also flash and warn if two vehicles were about to collide and would warn of an approaching emergency vehicle that was responding. There is more planned, but the messages and things hadn't been worked out when I retired.

The simple answer is no. There is no personally identifiable information transmitted. The only routine data shared is the "Here I Am" message which reports your current position (from built-in GPS), the direction of your travel and speed. It doesn't state "I am the silver Honda owned by XXX." In fact the IP address for the installed unit will randomly change just so a vehicle cannot be tracked by its IP address.

That's an unknown. Depending on how the vehicle manufacturers implement the radio units, they may be able to query the unit as you drive by say a Chevy dealer and get maintenance data from the car. You would then receive an email or phone call from your dealer saying something like "Your car needs XXX service." OnStar already provides this to a limited degree for GM owners. As the spectrum is licensed and open to both local government and private individuals, it all depends on applications which are developed. Your ability to opt out is something that hadn't been discussed as far as I know.

No. It's a safety feature that would be built in and mandated by the government. It would be like seat belts or airbags, something built into the vehicle at manufacture.

here it is 2016, and the number of cars sold in the USA with manual transmissions is 7%, and headed towards a floor of 0%.

How much lazier, and distracted, do we want to be while we drive, here in the US?

Remember way back when, how EZPass would not be used to track criminal activity? Of course this is decades old by now.

How does this work, hmmmm...when EZPass rejects a subpoena?

The court issues a search warrant of their administrative offices, and the information sought is secured.

Kinda like how you can't sue your employer for a work-related injury, or how a taxicab avoids a 10 mil. liability by going out of business as a single unit.

Why would connected cars be mandated, now that's just plain silly.

When's the last time you plugged something into your OBDII slot (or enet in newer cars), just because your insurance co. asked you to? When the rental car co. asked me to wear an ankle bracelet, I said nein danke.

Thanks Boxcar. You're the man to ask for questions in this area.