If we’re asked to use one word to describe the feelings of traditional carmakers in 2014, then “revolution” will definitely make it into the top 3. Internet has exerted great impact on industries ranging from Fast Moving Consumer Goods to finance, but auto industry featured by high cost and high threshold manages to stay clear of it relying on their experience of about 100 years. The alliance of SAIC Motor and Alibaba and the success of Tesla seem to have made no big difference to the auto industry. However, with rapid development of the Internet, no industry can stand immune. The following paragraphs will introduce some revolutionary breakthroughs that Internet has brought to the auto industry in 2014, which will definitely let traditional auto giants uneasy.
MOBILEYE—A Leader in IDAS
MOBILEYE, a company dedicated to R&D of intelligent drive assist system (IDAS) all the time, has been committed to developing and promoting a visual system that can assist drivers to safeguard passenger safety and reduce traffic accidents since its establishment. MOBILEYE can prevent against and reduce lane departure, rear-end collision, crash and other traffic accidents caused due to unexpected situations, for example, fatigue driving, distraction, desertion and inexperienced driving. As a result, it can relieve drivers of great pressure resulting from intense concentration and create a comfortable driving atmosphere.
At present, MOBILEYE has taken a lead all over the world in terms of developing single-camera IDAS, and caused traditional carmakers to realize that active and passive safety systems are far from enough—they shall get help from Mobileye.
PATEO—An Inventor of Total Telematics Solution
PATEO, a company dedicated to R&D of telematics (Internet of Vehicles) technologies and products, developed China’s first intelligent onboard product based on Android platform and established a perfect TSP service-oriented architecture in 2009. In 2010, PATEO cooperated with SAIC Motor, the largest auto enterprise in China, on Roewe 350 project; as a result, hundreds of thousands of Roewe and MG cars equipped with the product have come into use in China and SAIC Motor has set an example for Chinese auto enterprises to make use of telematics since then. In addition to hardware products and TSP service, PATEO has also made outstanding achievements in developing telematics technologies. Take iVokaL, a mobile connectivity product, as an example. As the world’s first touch-screen mobile connectivity solution based on Android ecosystem, iVokaL has drawn immediate attention from Ford with its debut and has been invited twice by the latter to promote itself in America among Chinese and foreign auto enterprises. Thanks to PATEO’s great efforts, the promotion program for mobile connectivity technology based on SDL open source technology was set up at Guangzhou Auto Show, and many auto enterprises from home and abroad have shown a great interest in the program, including Volvo, Ford, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile, Chang’an PSA, FAW-Volkswagen, Chery Automobile, Shanghai Automotive, Foton, etc.
An insider with PATEO revealed that PATEO would launch several products and technologies successively in the next few months, with an aim to create a complete set of telematics solutions. By virtue of its sound cooperative relation with traditional carmakers over the years, PATEO is expected to guide them to make use of telematics .
NVIDIA—A Trans-border Player in Onboard Internet Technology
Since it waded into the auto industry, NVIDIA, a chip maker with a long history, has become the most promising entrepreneurial enterprise in the industry. This time, the versatile NVIDIA has focused solely on researching and developing such onboard mobile devices as assist system, onboard entertainment and navigation system, digital instrument system, senior driver assist system, rear-seat entertainment system, etc., and has made remarkable achievements. For example, some luxury brands have configured their partial models with the embedded digital dashboard, navigator and products alike which are based on NVIDIA Tegra processor, including Audi, BMW, Maserati and Tesla.
As an established enterprise in the IT industry, NVIDIA has put traditional carmakers under great pressure with its high reputation and sound technologies in auto intelligence.
Mojio—An Unwavering Revolutionary in Telematics Industry
Mojio, a telematics service company just starting out, launches its first OBD product in 2014 and is committed to transforming it into a R&D platform and App store. Mojio regards it as the main business model to design third-party apps, with an aim to attract attention from both ordinary consumers and enterprises hoping to provide their clients with customized services.
Based on the demands of end users, Mojio knows more about consumers and product developers than traditional carmakers, and will thus drive relatively closed auto giants to make changes with its open model.
CarKnow—An Explorer in Vehicle Function Expansion
CarKnow, a company established by a young man born in Detroit Motown in America, launches a small auto development platform called Carduino this year, which allows car owners to configure their car with a variety of tools so as to expand car functions and even to enable older car models to have access to Internet.
Due to the limit of cost, traditional carmakers usually only configure high-end car models with parking assist system or blind spot monitoring, etc., while owners of mid- and low-end car models have to upgrade their car in 4S dealerships at high cost. However, Carduino has broken such chains, which makes the situation worse for traditional carmakers which raise car price by providing optional functions.
The above-mentioned 5 companies share two things in common—the first being advanced technologies and the other being their aim to benefit end users. From Internet to Internet of Things and then to telematics, those companies have gradually debunked the claim that telematics is unattainable and distant, proving with their products that entrepreneurial enterprises are capable of providing users with ideal intelligent car services. Their technical strength and business operating model have brought both challenges and opportunities to auto giants on the market with increasing competition.
