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According to Seon Seob Kim, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motor India, with 10 India specific features, Hyundai BlueLink will be the most practical, concrete and convenient connected car technology for the Indian market. The technology will be available in future Hyundai products starting with the Hyundai Venue, thus democratising the technology and making it accessible for everybody.
Similarly, Maruti Suzuki has announced the launch of ‘Suzuki Connect’, a new telematics solution system for its Nexa range of premium category cars. Based on a propriety telematics control unit, Suzuki Connect is an advanced integrated safety and connected car solution, designed to provide customers with improved safety, security and a user-friendly connected car experience, including vehicle tracking, emergency assistance, vehicle live location/movement status, service due reminders and driving behaviour analysis. Earlier this year, in association with Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation, Maruti Suzuki had launched ‘She-Taxi’ service, with webbased convergent technologies that monitor and track activities of both passengers and cab drivers – all an extension and part of telematics for making taxi services safer for women.
While connected vehicles growth estimates for India are on an upswing, it is critically important for the ecosystem and infrastructure to keep pace with this growth. Telecom companies in India will need to gear up to offer better data services and network solutions. Auto companies are already collaborating with suppliers to develop embedded and in-built modules. The introduction of 5G will further enable connected cars to send and receive messages and application updates faster over-the-air. 5G will also facilitate faster V2I real time communications on roadblocks or traffic situations, allowing drivers time to react and avoid congestion.
No doubt, Internet-ready vehicles are also bringing a host of security concerns about the data being generated. Like smartphones, these newtechnology connected cars will also need to address regulatory issues related to privacy, data protection, encryption and standardisation.
Bruno Grippay, Director, Connected Cars, Nissan AMI (Africa, Middle East and India) Region, explained, “Connected Cars represents a shift in age old paradigm in Automobile industry. The change is seen clearly with companies making the shift from product-centric strategies to service driven strategies. Connected Cars allows OEMs more touchpoints with their customers which goes beyond sales & service. To run a sustainable business in Connected Cars, OEMs need strong on ground operations to complement the product. This means a robust customer support, personalization and customized offers. For customer, the biggest driver of Connectivity is it offers them a way to manage their car seamlessly.
NissanConnect is the first TCU (Telematics Control Unit) based system developed specifically for India and launched in August 2017 with Nissan Micra, Sunny and Terrano. It is also unique with its 360 degree approach, dedicated server for secured data, ever evolving interface and first factory-fitted Telematics Control Unit (TCU) with an integrated SIM built in the cars paired with individuals phone, making this solution a truly best-in-class Connected Car technology.
Nissan recently launched SUV – new Nissan KICKS, a more advanced and intelligent version of NissanConnect with around 60 features was introduced as standard across variants. NissanConnect comes with exciting features like, safety alerts, security alerts, impact alert, smart drive score, locate my car, tow away alert, advanced community and several others features which make drive and car ownership more safe, secured and convenient.
According to Grippay, “Connected Cars present a great opportunity for India to develop smarter & safer cities.
