Almost two-thirds of potential car buyers from United States, Germany, Brazil, Japan and China, in a study conducted jointly by Ericsson and the AT&T Drive Studio, indicated that the connected car services will become a major consideration in their next car purchase. The study collected data from customers who are likely to purchase a car in the next five years in these countries and measured how the connected car features and services influence their car purchase decisions.
According Ericsson and AT&T, the study showed that 72% of drivers would delay a car purchase by one year to buy a car with connected Car services from their preferred brand and almost 67% of U.S. drivers indicated they would probably or definitely buy connectivity or Wi-Fi service if available in their car. More importantly, the study said that half of the drivers surveyed would switch brands to a comparable brand to get Connected Car services.
Apart from these figures, the study also reported that these potential car buyers had high awareness of the connected car features. Features like roadside assistance and navigation and realtime traffic saw an awareness score of 74% and 72% respectively, followed by remote start and music streaming with an awareness score of 71% and 70% respectively. Usage-based insurance tracking and Wi-fi Hotspot however scored much lower at 52% and 50% respectively. These figures correspond to the familiarity of most drivers to some of these in-vehicle services, most of which were already available before data connection to the car become possible. Drivers were accessing their car radios and the GPS based navigation facility before the car was connected to high-speed mobile broadband services. On the other hand, the idea of the car acting as a Hotspot or the transmission of telematics data to cloud-based databases is something new for most drivers, resulting in the overall lower score on these concepts.
According to the statement by both companies, Ericsson is a key contributor to the AT&T Drive platform, providing a cloud-based platform on which automakers can choose to run their entire, customized connected car experience.
"What we are seeing in this data is a clear signal that Connected Car features and services are becoming an important factor in a consumer's purchase decision. The study shows that a transformation is occurring on a global scale, to a world where consumers expect Connected Car services across all markets and models. The research shows that we are just now entering a new era of Connected Car innovation that will integrate all aspects of a person's life, which is why Ericsson is working with the AT&T Drive Studio to provide our award winning, cloud-based Connected Car solution and our international presence to implement connected car services globally."
- Arun Bhikshesvaran, CMO, Ericsson
"The race is on for automakers to compete for customers globally through connected car solutions. The AT&T Drive platform, with collaboration from Ericsson and a host of other players in the ecosystem, is the most robust set of solutions at automakers' disposal today."
- Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Emerging Devices, AT&T Mobility
