Car Internet becomes the future trend of automobile consumption

The increasingly diversified automotive consumption demands make the functionalization of automotive products more and more abundant, especially in the development of automotive electronics.

At the Chengdu Auto Show held at the end of August this year, the German luxury brand BMW Automotive launched the first-ever automotive Internet technology through cross-domain cooperation, combining vehicle-mounted electronic technology with mobile Internet technology, and realized the network functions of the new BMW models. And online entertainment.

The BMW brand is not the only brand that adopts car internet technology in China. In fact, many car companies including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and BYD have all started to launch automotive Internet technologies this year, and most brands have also used this technology first in their respective subdivisions. Models. Although their respective functions and technologies are not the same, the reporter learned from the BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi brands that the original intention of the above-mentioned three luxury brands to launch relevant in-vehicle internet technologies is to provide more abundant functional automotive products to the market. In order to cater to car consumer demand.

It is understood that with the needs of consumers and the development of automotive products, more and more intelligent automotive functional technologies have gradually become a major direction for the future of automotive electronics, and a variety of advanced electronic technologies will be directly installed in automobiles in the future, such as Automotive safety technology, car entertainment system, global positioning technology, information interconnection technology, etc. Through these technologies, vehicle owners can not only achieve the safety and convenience in the process of driving, but also achieve a wider range of entertainment and interaction.

In this regard, industry analysts have said that in the era of Internet of Things technology, the automotive Internet will undoubtedly become an important trend in the future development of intelligent automotive products. Zhang Yuxing, an automotive analyst with a long-term focus on automotive products and consumer trends, believes: “This will also become a key research and development direction for many automotive manufacturers and automotive electronics companies in the future.”

Get together and car internet

At the Chengdu auto show, the BMW brand took the lead in the 2013 new 5 Series equipped with the next-generation iDrive system with connected driving technology. This system integrates BMW's onboard electronic system, web search and microblogging functions to enable real-time traffic information and mobile News and information online, call center remote service, smart phone and BMW vehicle link, etc. In addition, services such as Bluetooth calling, mobile office, automatic maintenance reminder, emergency assistance and roadside assistance services, and customer care center are also in this area. Connected driving content. In an interview with the China Economic Times, Dr. Dai Lei, senior vice president of BMW Brilliance Marketing, said: “The on-board internet system provided by the new 5 Series is a major change in the third-generation iDrive system of the BMW brand, bringing automotive technology and information to the Internet. Technological innovation, BMW will promote this technology in more models in the future.”

Before BMW, only in the second half of this year, the Audi brand launched the Audi connect system with WLAN hotspot technology on the new Q3 and Q7 models. This system will connect the two models to the Internet through the Apple mobile phone. Users can use 3G SIM cards or 3G mobile phones to connect to the MMI system through Bluetooth on-vehicle and connect vehicles to the Internet to realize intelligent networking between cars, owners, the Internet, infrastructure and even other cars. Through this system, owners can also search for weather, news, point of interest (POI) searches, and roadside assistance. It is reported that Audi connect technology will be gradually applied to other Audi models, including the new Audi A8 and S8 models released at the beginning of the month, the car Internet has become a major highlight of these two models.

Compared with BMW Audi, Mercedes-Benz also does not lag behind in the car Internet. For a long time, Mercedes-Benz has been working on the R&D of human-vehicle interactive systems, including the wireless high-speed Internet access to myCOMAND technology. This technology uses a Wi-Fi wireless LAN router and a high-speed 3G mobile communication network. The occupants in the vehicle can use the wireless devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and iPads to quickly access the search engine, surf the web, send and receive mails, and play video and audio on the system. And use Google Maps and check weather conditions and nearby cheapest gas stations for queries and other services. This system has been applied in the Mercedes-Benz S-class. The reporter learned from Mercedes-Benz China that Mercedes-Benz’s latest in-vehicle Internet technology research and development is to realize the human-car dialogue system.

Competing to enter the automotive Internet domain is not the exclusive model for the above three brands. This reporter learned that, in addition to the three major German brands, the brand that owns in-vehicle Internet technology in China also includes Buick, Dongfeng Nissan, and SAIC Roewe. It is reported that in the field of vehicle-mounted Internet systems, the earliest introduction of this technology is General Motors. As early as a few years ago, General Motors introduced an OnStar system that provides vehicle safety information services to vehicle owners through the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communication technologies. The system is currently used in many Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet models. In other brands, the newly released Dongfeng Nissan Sylphy is also equipped with the CARWINGS Chi Heng + vehicle information service system; Japan's Toyota Motor also has a new G-BOOK smart co-drive system released, and equipped with Toyota and Lexus and other models. It is worth mentioning that Roewe, an independent brand already listed, has also inherited the InkaNet intelligent network driving system for navigation, radio, walkie-talkie, telephone and network.

Is the trend and the market

"The large number of applications of vehicle-mounted Internet function technology further demonstrates that this will become a major trend in the development of automotive products in the future." Hui Yumei, a senior automotive industry analyst with Xinhuaxin who has long been engaged in research on automotive consumption, has stated that with consumers' automotive products In particular, with regard to the requirements of automotive electronic functions, the application of automotive Internet technology will become an important technology in the future, and it will become a major feature of car companies in attracting consumers to purchase cars.

In the past two years, the trend of the development of automotive electronics has become more pronounced and the functions have become more complete. Automotive electronics has become the highlight of many new vehicles in the process of IPO. From one-click startup, real-time navigation, smart parking, mobile office, and rich network information services, the automotive electronics are gradually affecting vehicle consumption. The development of these automotive electronics has shown a continuous improvement in the pursuit of market consumption, which will also allow auto companies to continuously develop more electronic service products that are more in line with the market.

"With the continuous popularization of the Internet, especially the upgrading of wireless mobile technology and the application of mobile Internet, the combination of the automobile and the Internet has become inevitable." Hui Yumei told reporters: "The multifunctional of automotive electronics and the application of automotive Internet technology, Not only does the automotive product's characteristics improve, but it also makes consumers feel that the car brings more convenient humanized operation and experience, and at the same time it will certainly promote people's awareness of the car brand and the increase in vehicle sales."

It is understood that a feature of the current domestic market is that the sales volume of joint venture brands exceeds that of self-owned brands, and luxury brands are more liked. In this regard, industry analysts believe that, in addition to product quality and brand, joint venture brands and luxury brands in automotive electronics are more important to make automotive products more in line with market consumer demand, which also makes car companies have joined the automotive electronics Research and development.

In fact, many automotive electronics companies are currently working on the stickiness of in-vehicle machines and the mobile Internet, relying on mature technologies to develop more in-vehicle services suitable for vehicle owners' driving habits and driving needs, people and vehicles, people and vehicles. It is not only confined to the traditional and few service modes, but also uses the mobile Internet to realize more operations online, and new services such as national road rescue can also be provided at the same time. Owners bring convenience.

Some industry insiders predict that in the future, China will usher in a period of rapid development of the car networking market, and the automobile market will enter the Internet era. The car will be more intelligent, and people hope to solve the series of problems in the simplest way. “The concept of car networking has never weakened since its inception. From the current situation, the car network is not only favored by the industry, but even attracts other industries to gradually infiltrate into the car networking industry.” Zhang Zhiyong, an expert in the automotive industry, said, “A good one. The tiny mechanism, as long as it is properly guided, will have a sensational effect after a period of hard work."