ADAS as standard, please

Connected cars will account for more than half of new vehicle sales by 2020. That’s the view of IHS Automotive, which also believes that nearly half of the global fleet of vehicles in operation will be connected by then.

Its survey, Connected Cars, found that increased connectivity is driving consumer preference when buying new cars.

In a bid to find out what consumers consider to be must-haves, and how much they’d be prepared to pay for them, more than 4,000 vehicle owners intending to purchase a new vehicle within the next 36 months were surveyed, representing four key automotive markets – the US, China, Germany and the UK.

It found that while Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are most desirable among global survey respondents, consumers expect them to be included in new vehicles at no charge, since electronic stability control systems and pre-charged brakes have become standard equipment on a global scale.

However, 74% of consumers who currently own a vehicle with an infotainment system said they are willing to pay for software updates that improve or add functionality to their vehicle.

The survey also found that navigation apps were the most popular among drivers using their smartphones in cars, with 52% of respondents saying they used them. Weather apps (41%) and music/news apps (37%) were also popular. Interestingly, podcasting apps registered very low among the audience surveyed, despite a recent resurgence in popularity.

Connected Cars also revealed that nearly one third of survey respondents in all age categories said they would ride in a self-driving vehicle and purchase one, with a further quarter saying they’d ride in one but not buy one.

Those figures are slanted though, with millennials much more excited by new technology than older drivers. More than half said they’d buy an autonomous vehicle, with 75% saying they were confident in artificial intelligence driving the vehicle.