With CES 2018 having brought out an outburst of the hottest concepts & trends, Detroit Auto Show with a back to back presence came up like a hurricane with a whole slew of concepts and production vehicles to shake-up the automotive industry. The Automotive Revolution is growing stronger with each passing year and it seems like out-of-the-box concepts won’t take long to wield their magic on the turnpike.

What’s Hot in the Market?

Tech-packed with Autonomous Driving capability, a Home-Theater-like Digital Display Space, Facial Recognition, Hand-Gesture control, plug-in hybrid, and a fantastic LED lighting signature, the all-new Byton made a high-tech appeal at CES 2018 along with a stern move to beat the Tesla Model X. The Heavy Duty Truck from Ford called the Ford Ranger, not only came up with a bang in aesthetic and functional upgrades, but is well-equipped with Alexa, a 4G Wi-Fi Hotspot and standard automatic emergency braking to take the in-vehicle experience to a whole new level. In light of the hottest concepts, Honda’s 3E Robotics Concept Car, Hyundai’s Nexo, Mercedes-AMG project ONE – HyperCar, Nissan’s Brain to Vehicle System, Toyota’s e-Palette created a lot of hype amongst the Automotive Community & Enthusiasts.

Fast-paced Growth of Automotive Industry

Imagine a car that can see obstacles, alert the driver in case of drowsiness, detect pedestrians, understand the driver’s naturalistic behavior, enable surround view & eliminate blind spots, assist in parking and can even turn into auto-pilot mode for safer driving. Counting on continuous disruption ahead in the automotive field and considering the $15 billion worth market penetration of ADAS-enabled vehicles early in 2016, industry regulators, eventually started to take a plunge on the inclusion of some of these features in every vehicle to ensure safety.

The advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.44% from 2016 to 2021, to make USD 42.40 Billion Market by 2021, Source: Markets and Markets Research

Today, high-profile auto manufacturers are either investing in their own research centers or looking at a handshake with Tech Firms like KritiKal Solutions to release full-blown concepts & technologies that would create the next big dent in the Automotive World.

Key Driving Factors – The Future of Transportation & Mobility

• Improved powertrain technologies: Battery and fuel cell electric vehicles have low emissions, higher energy efficiency, and new vehicle designs.
• Use of Lightweight materials: New lightweight materials help auto manufacturers to reduce weight without affecting passenger safety.
• Advances in connected vehicles: A suite of technologies providing vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication enables connectivity between the cars running on the roads.
• Change in Mobility preferences: An example of diverse mobility – car-pooling, e-hailing- is becoming prevalent in young generations. This pay per use mobility offers to multitask and removes the hurdle of owning a car.
• Autonomous Vehicles: Emergence of self-controlled vehicles that sense the environment around them, obstacles, lanes, traffic lights, proximity to surrounding objects, traffic signs, navigation, etc.

Way to Intelligent Mobility

Intelligent mobility is basically the pairing of transportation systems and advanced technologies such as high-powered computer processors, cellular networks, sensors, data fusion, A.I., Machine Learning and Deep Learning. On top of that, it comprises a host of Consumer-facing Technologies that not only augment the driving experience but also make driving safer.

ADAS

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are built to warn and aid drivers in the driving experience. These are very crucial to promote the growth of fully autonomous vehicles. A suite of highly functional features like Driver Drowsiness Detection, Traffic Sign and Scene Text Recognition, Pedestrian Detection, Lane Detection, Brake Control System, Automatic Cruise control, Naturalistic driver behavior and Surround View Detection. Full-fledged ADAS would help the driver sit back and relax while the Vehicle watches the road providing real-time & preemptive alerts for a safer, smarter drive.

Self-Piloted Vehicles

As the name suggests, self-piloted vehicles relinquish the need for human operation as they are fuelled by advanced GPS, Sensors and Connected Vehicle Technologies. In contrast to ADAS, Self-piloted Vehicles must be able to complete the distance of a hundred miles without human interaction. As these vehicles are still stymied by the technological & legislative rules, self-piloted vehicles are not yet available for public use.

Connected Cars

Connected cars are packed with state-of-the-art infotainment systems, telematics, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies to interact with the outside world. Being connected to wireless networks and devices, such vehicles are capable of sending and receiving information such as phone calls and application data for entertainment/safety systems. Connected Cars are required for autonomous driving to deliver an amazing, personalized driving experience.

You may also read- Connected cars- Creating new avenues for customer-centric connected journeys

What’s ahead?

By 2025, the automotive industry will be brought to a complete transformation. Fleets will have autonomous capabilities. In the coming 10-15 years, integrated driving will evolve, a web of information will start to drift between vehicles, and infrastructure will get shape.

By 2040, we’d probably see fully-automated vehicles, with crash frequency down by 80%, – says a report by KPMG.

Considering the figures, it’s quite clear that innovative technologies are disrupting the auto segment by enabling automation, connectivity and mobility services. If one has to survive in this cut-throat competition, then it’s imperative to go for exciting car tryst with an exuberant generation obsessed with tech power and connectivity. At KritiKal Solutions, we have a deep domain expertise in ADAS, Connected Cars, and Intelligent Transportation Systems to redefine the future of automobile companies. Let’s connect the unconnected & drive automation to bring about unprecedented changes in the Transportation & Mobility World.