Two-Thirds of Car Owners Want Connectivity Built Into Their Next Vehicles, Parks Says

Nearly two-thirds of car owners in U.S. broadband homes want “connected activity” built into their next vehicles, Parks Associates said Tuesday in a report. More than 40 million U.S. vehicles will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2015, “and that number will steadily increase through 2016,” the researcher said. Of the 64 percent of car owners in U.S. broadband homes who say they want built-in support for at least one connected activity in their next cars, “that demand is in contrast to current connected activities in the car, the majority of which are done on a smartphone without any connection to the car,” it said. “Automakers are keying into this demand by embedding connectivity in new vehicle models,” it said. “With the exception of smartphones, no other device touches so many points in a person’s life as the car, from home to work to family and community interaction. Car-generated data will increasingly enrich connected solutions outside the car, while also offering an interaction touch point for those external solutions from within the car.” The ability to access maps tops the wish list among car owners surveyed who want connected features built into their next vehicles, Parks said. Next is the ability to access roadside emergency features, followed by the ability to make or receive voice calls through embedded connectivity in the car, it said.