Customization, Safety Will Lead Future of Mobile Electronics Aftermarket, Says Panel

The aftermarket advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) market is $1.5 billion today, said John Waraniak, Specialty Equipment Market Association vice president-vehicle technology, on a Society of Automotive Engineering panel at CE Week Wednesday, and it could jump to $6 billion in the next few years. That compares with $8 billion for the OEM ADAS market today. Among the ADAS technologies presenting a “huge opportunity” for resellers are collision, blind-spot and rear cross-traffic alert warning systems, he said. Those technologies come bundled with as few as 20 percent of systems from the factory, Waraniak said, leaving plenty of room for independent retailers to add those capabilities to their portfolio. On integrating those technologies into existing vehicles, Ted Cardenas, marketing vice president for Pioneer’s car electronics division, said the dashboard has evolved over the years and most new cars with integrated systems make it more challenging to integrate advanced functionality. But Pioneer is still confident the aftermarket has potential, with the average age of vehicles on the road today being 11 years. With the smartphone evolving “about every four months,” Cardenas said Pioneer is focusing on developing an interface that can tie technologies together in the vehicle, “and it might not even be a smartphone,” he said. For safety systems such as lane departure and blind-spot warning technology, “how those things are installed” in the aftermarket is "going to be very important," he said. The next step is ensuring the installer can provide as skilled an installation as the functionality coming from OEM vehicles. Voxx has been holding dealer training sessions toward that end, said Joe Caltabiano, senior business development manager-mobile entertainment, including social media training videos. An installer who wants instruction on removing a grille to install a camera can look at a “step-by-step video,” he said. Wheel and tire sensors will be an area of opportunity for aftermarket customization, said SEMA's Waraniak, citing “sensor fusion.” As wheels and tires “get smarter,” they will be connected to the vehicle and integrate with the ADAS systems, creating new opportunities for installers, he said. “It’s all about disruption,” Waraniak said. “You’re creating a need that no one has really asked for,” creating solutions consumers didn’t know they needed but will gravitate toward, he said. Historically, those solutions come from the aftermarket, he said. Waraniak projected the aftermarket five years from now will be more personalized to individual car owners. Rather than solutions driven by some, and offered to many, in five years “it will be about you.”