The Internet of Things is ready to interconnect the digital world
While computer scientists and researchers continue to push the frontiers of artificial intelligence, working on the development of machine learning and sentient tools, it appears that 2017 may be the year in which IoT-based services and devices will truly become a protagonist of our era.
One of the main reasons behind this reasoning is that, besides the introduction of new technology, the IoT can also integrate many forms of legacy technology that are already in our houses, offices and cars with sensors and devices that will help drive our connected world towards the future. And telematics is set to pave the way.
Big Data
Following on the heels of the “content is king” catchphrase, which has been the credo of the digital industry for years, data production, acquisition and analysis continues to evolve rapidly and catalyse the development of new products and services. And perhaps this is most evident in the automotive industry where telematics has evolved far beyond its original niche market for usage-based insurance (UBI), emergency alerts and satellite navigators to present a wide new range of services that allow connected cars – and all other vehicles, for that matter – to acquire and share information in real-time.
Connected Cars
Telematics providers have now amassed a staggering amount of information. Octo Telematics, for instance, now has 4.8 million connected users, has stored over 146 billion miles of driving data and has analysed 379,000 automotive accidents. This data, which is mined by pattern recognition algorithms, provides not only invaluable insight into how to improve road safety and security, further driving the development of telematics services, but also feeds machine learning, in a virtuous cycle.
Moreover, the upcoming introduction of 5G mobile networks will allow an exponential increase in the information shared amongst connected vehicles and smart city infrastructure in the greater Internet of Things. And this will increasingly occur in our houses and offices thanks to domotics, as well as in industry, too.
This exponential increase in data transmission capability will also further drive the development of augmented reality systems that promise to be extremely interesting for the future of the automotive industry.
Security
While telematics continues to make our journeys increasingly safe, the Internet of Things and cloud services have also come a long way in protecting driver data. Servers storing telematics data are increasingly hard to breach and, in any case, the data is anonymised.
New systems such as Octo’s Omoove EasyOpen – a revolutionary system that allows smartphones to operate as car keys – have removed on-line data transmission to make telematics services even more secure.
And, as with any technology, once it is accepted as secure, it is ready to blossom. And that is why experts believe that this will be the year of the Internet of Things.
For further information:
- Machine Learning and the Rise of Smart Cars
- Sensational Sensors