Connected cars: Tyred and wired

When Louise Chandler, a 31-year-old nurse from Surrey, hit a kerb in her Renault Clio in July 2013, it broke the rear axle, sending her spinning across the road and setting off the airbag. Moments later, she received a phone call. It was her insurer.

"It was surreal," she says. "I was all shaken up, had just been hit in the face and could not understand how on earth my insurer knew what was going on."

The answer lay in a small black box located beneath the dashboard. This Sim card-enabled device instantly sent Ms Chandler's location and the force of impact to her insurance company, which then phoned for an ambulance.

The connected car is already saving lives. Now big business is wondering what else it can do. Insurers, telecommunications companies and advertisers are all racing to tap the commercial potential presented by vehicles that can reveal their location, speed and more.

Some possibilities are fun: a music streaming service could suggest tracks based on the picturesque stretch of country lane the car is navigating. Advertisers, for years confined to radio jingles and roadside billboards when marketing to motorists, are salivating at the prospect of beaming tailor-made adverts to the car's captive audience.

But drivers and carmakers may be wary of such intrusions. And how will carmakers keep so much personal data safe, avoid driver distraction and even prevent a cyber attack?

"I don't want a hacker turning the wheel 90-degrees when I'm driving at 60mph," says a former industry CEO.

More than 104m cars are expected to have some form of connectivity by 2025, according to the consultancy EY - more than the 87m light vehicles sold worldwide last year. Already, as much as a quarter of the cost of building a car today is related to software.

The market for telematics hardware, mobile car data plans and critical services such as vehicle-to-infrastructure communication could be worth $23bn by the end of the decade, according to Exane BNP Paribas. Connected car media, such as navigation and music streaming, could be worth the same amount on top, says GSMA, the telecoms industry body.

And that is before the autonomous car pulls up. Self-driving vehicles - expected to debut before the end of the decade - would give media companies and advertisers potentially unlimited access to the time spent behind the wheel. "Once you have the driverless car, the user is almost killing time," says Phil Harrold of PwC. "Then the connected car comes into its own."

Tech companies want in, particularly Google, which is working on a self-driving car, and Apple, which has started an automotive project. This has sparked a flurry of activity in the car industry, which critics say only innovates when pushed by new entrants or regulators.

The manufacturers are wary of handing too much power - and profitability - to Silicon Valley. "The customer, when he's sitting in the car, is our customer," says Rupert Stadler, chief executive of Audi. "And we have a lot of ideas how to entertain him, how to serve him, how to create added value for him."

Car companies are keen to avoid the fate of PC makers, who were squeezed as value shifted to cloud-based services. They fear that the future value of the car will be in technology and services, not the metal they have been engineering for decades. "We want this pipeline into the car so that we can come up with new services," says Karl-Thomas Neumann, head of General Motors' European arm. "[I]t will create an intimacy with our customer we never had before."

Ford said in March that it would start over-the-air updates that allow the car to download software fixes - something Tesla, the electric carmaker co-founded by Elon Musk, has pioneered. But mainstream carmakers are frightened of opening a door that could allow malware to be installed. "The key challenge for all of us . . . is to know how to make sure we can protect customer data," says Didier Leroy, a Toyota vice-president.

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How the car connects to the outside world

The average premium car today has more than a mile of cables, between 50 and 70 control units and the computing power of 20 advanced PCs. But only the black box unit, the rooftop WiFi hotspot and the driver's smartphone can send and receive data beyond the car itself. The black box feeds into the network of sensors and control units in the car, which handle functions such as the airbags and brakes. Carmakers insist on firewalls that segregate the critical internal mechanical parts on the network from the non-critical control units, such as infotainment systems.

Who your car is talking to

Transport infrastructure

Many carmakers are exploring the potential of "intelligent transport systems" that could warn drivers of traffic jams or hazards further up the road. Brussels also wants all new cars sold in the EU to feature an eCall automatic distress signaller to alert emergency services in the event of an accident.

Other vehicles

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication would allow cars to "talk" to each other - say, to alert the trailing driver when the car in front is about to change lanes - or receive motorcycle warnings, helping to increase awareness and safety

Insurance

"Black box" telematics devices in cars are changing motoring policies, offering insurers more information about how risky their customers are behind the wheel and pushing down premiums for drivers who can prove themselves to be careful.

Manufacturer

Carmakers can wirelessly monitor the inner workings of the car by accessing onboard controllers via the telematics unit. This offers big benefits for manufacturers. Potential recall issues can be spotted early; minor software glitches can be fixed simply with an over-the-air update.

Internet

A WiFi hotspot on the roof allows the car to connect to the internet for web browsing, communication or streaming media content. General Motors' OnStar service offers 4G LTE that allows streaming at 10 times the speed of 3G for up to seven in-car devices.

Connected points in the car

1. Engine Ford's new S-Max people carrier comes with an intelligent speed limiter that uses a camera mounted on the windscreen to scan traffic signs and adjust the throttle

2. Headlights Valeo's matrix beam technology employs front-mounted cameras that detect approaching vehicles and turn on and off individual luminous pixels, so the car has constant full-beam at night without dazzling other drivers

3. Chassis VW's adaptive chassis creates a comfortable or sporty feel for drivers, using sensors in the wheels to react to road conditions and adjust the shock absorbers

4. Brakes Advanced emergency braking uses front-mounted lasers to detect stationary objects and engage the brakes. Stability technology can also engage the brakes to avoid spin-outs

5. Suspension A 2014 wireless update for Tesla owners introduced location-based air suspension, which remembers pot holes and steep driveways and automatically adjusts road clearance

6. Tyres Sensors embedded within tyres detect air pressure and temperature. The car can sense if you have a puncture and, linking in with the navigation system, summon a breakdown service or guide you to the nearest garage

7. Grille Becomes the eyes of the connected car. Ultrasonic cameras and radar systems power safety features based on the movement of other objects and vehicles, such as automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control

8. Seats Include sensor mats embedded in the foam that detect the weight of the passenger and tell the airbag how much force to deploy with. Cameras can also be used to create a profile of the passenger and help distinguish adults from children

9. Head-up display Many premium cars offer a feature that projects information on to the windscreen as if it is "floating" in front of the eyes of the driver. Information ranges from navigation to pedestrian detection

10. In-car camera Carmakers are working on ways of making sure the driver is paying attention at all times. Toyota and GM are both developing eye and head-tracking technology that uses a driver-facing cockpit camera. Other suppliers, including Valeo, are working on facial recognition

11. Steering wheel Sensors in the steering wheel can detect heart rate to warn of irregular rhythms, pick up signs of fatigue, anger or nervousness and even - through perspiration in the hands - measure blood-alcohol content

12. Centre-stack The hub of the vehicle for media, communication and navigation. Apple and Google have developed platforms.

13. Locks Modern premium cars offer near-field communication, unlocking the car even if the key is in the driver's pocket. Smartphones can start cars remotely, activate the horn or flash the headlights

14. Comfort Many of the latest cars make it possible to control in-car heating or air conditioning from inside the home. Ford is also working with Nest, the smart-home company, on ways of getting the car to talk to the home thermostat

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