Spanish automobile maker Seat has shown off technology capable of connecting cars up to IoT at Mobile World Congress in a bid to create the car of the future.
BARCELONA, SPAIN — The technology, which is currently concept-based, lets Seat cars make contact with parking spaces and breakdown services, and control home appliances.
Seat has been working on the technology with Samsung, SAP and Accenture through a special alliance, and may bring some of the features to its European cars in 2016.
A ‘reserve and park’ service is likely to launch in the first instance, with Samsung already having joined forces with SAP to develop the app.
Once launched, drivers will be able to use it to find, reserve and pay for parking spaces from the car’s infotainment system in any location.
This service is currently available to customers based in the US and South Korea, and will be expanded to Europe if Seat secures deals with parking providers and lawmakers.
Seat’s announcement comes as the UK Government launches a facility in Greenwich, London, where connected and driverless cars can be developed safely.
Luca de Meo, executive committee president at Seat, said: “For SEAT, connectivity is a key factor. This technological alliance with Samsung and SAP strengthens SEAT’s aim of becoming a reference in the field of connectivity.”
Also read: Ford harnesses IoT and Big Data in mobility quest
Cars ‘integral’ to IoT ecosystem
Sarat Pediredla, CEO of tech consultancy Hedgehoglab, told Internet of Business that cars are critical to IoT and sees a range of benefits.
He says: “Cars are an integral part of the IoT ecosystem. With advances in communications technologies and breakthroughs in telematics, IoT brings a new paradigm to how we use and maintain our cars.
“Take a simple example of remote diagnostics. You can ring a service centre who can instantly pull up data on your car and diagnose the problem remotely and even potentially fix it all while sat in the comfort of their desk.
“Services like telematics insurance are revolutionising how we insure our cars and risk insurers take on by constantly monitoring and evaluating driver behaviour.
“Insurers can now drop your premiums in real-time or simply cancel your insurance based on your driving patterns. Claims can be fast tracked due to the amount of data being transmitted and the detail that is available to the insurers.”
Also read: UK drivers want more control over connected car data