Thoughts from the Driver’s Seat with Mike Nelson

The Future of Connected Cars is Now

We hear so much about the future of connected cars and the life-changing potential of automated and autonomous technologies. But many people don't realize that the vast majority of cars entering the market today are “connected” in one way or another—whether through infotainment systems, safety and crash monitoring services, or a panoply of vehicle sensors transmitting vehicle data back to the OEM for R&D and other purposes.  In a November 2020 article, Automotive World reported that 91% of new vehicles sold during that year were connected, and predicted that “embedded and aftermarket segments will see accelerated growth in 2021, and sales should return to trend in early 2022 with 115 million global connected car shipments, and a market value of $83 billion in 2025.” 

It goes without saying (but we will say it anyway) that the data generated by and through connected vehicles has real value in many different applications—one of which is crash liability analysis.  For example, data can reveal objective details about how the car was driving before an accident, and how much force was applied to the brakes or steering wheel at the time of the accident, to name a few. We previously wrote about three different types of data that can be useful in determining what happened in a crash event, and applicable legal and industry standards, here. 

In short, while fully autonomous vehicles remain a thing of the future, connected cars already are here and they can be found everywhere.

Hear more about the state of connectivity from Mike Nelson in today’s Thoughts from the Driver’s Seat.

Copyright Nelson Niehaus LLC

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Firm, its clients, or any of its or their respective affiliates. This blog post is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.