Five Efficient IoT Solutions in the Automotive Industry

Yuri Filatov
7 min readJul 12, 2022

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is an amazing modern-day technology. It is widely used in different sectors of the economy and helps to make the lives of people more comfortable by connecting their devices into a network that is easy to manage and control. Users profit from IoT software in healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, media & entertainment, etc. The automotive industry also actively exploits this state-of-the-art technology. For instance, it offers various applications for connected cars, and more and more customers download them to facilitate vehicle management. In this article, we’ll tell you about five IoT solutions that have already proved efficient in the automotive sector.

The IoT in the automotive sector: how does it function?

The automotive sector was one of the first to embrace IoT innovation for various purposes. The number of connected cars is growing every year because drivers value the comfort and safety the IoT gives them. According to Statista estimates, by 2025, there will be approximately 163 million active IoT connections in the automotive sector. Car manufacturers keep a watchful eye on the growth and evolution of this technology and cooperate with leading automotive software development companies when building new IoT solutions.

The IoT gives car owners the ability to use the Internet connection, upgrade software, receive improved maps, and increase the level of safety. Gathering vehicle data is also useful as it allows automotive manufacturers and transportation companies to improve their performance and offer new effective and useful apps.

The IoT technology builds a network of users who can exchange valuable information and share their knowledge and expertise. These are business owners, drivers, operators, and road workers. At the core of this innovation lies telematics. It is possible to attach IoT sensors to any part of a car thus making it “visible” to end-users at a distance. They perform all the relevant measurements and let customers stay aware of the status of their vehicles. People can remotely track the location of cars at a particular moment. They learn the details concerning the performance and speed of a connected car, estimate driver behavior, detect engine deterioration, deal with parking issues, assess the risks on the road and avoid collisions, etc.

We invite you to learn about five examples of how the IoT can be successfully used in the automotive industry. The solutions in this list have been developed by leading automotive software development companies and offer customers a variety of useful functions that significantly enhance user experience.

Electroniq industrial solution

This high-performing IoT solution for data collection and assessment was developed by Andersen. The company’s customer cooperates with automotive manufacturers and supplies them with Plug’n’Play equipment to collect and process data.

Andersen’s specialists built an IoT tool that can handle a large amount of data. ML techniques help to detect anomalies and deviations in the collected information. After that, custom events are triggered. The solution can schedule and send messages, alerts, and notifications and process various payments. Possible integration with Salesforce is another useful feature. The number of IoT sensors may vary, which allows the customer to compare equipment and optimize it whenever necessary.

For end-users, this tool means the ability to monitor automotive manufacturing processes in real time, track significant changes, and streamline the workflow. It unleashes the potential of Big Data. When businessmen know how their equipment functions, they can easily make the necessary adjustments and select the best car parts.

As 93% of the end-users said they were happy with the services, Andersen’s customer managed to attract new clients from the automotive industry. It also generated a 16% increase in the yearly revenue.

Source: andersenlab.com

Kaa automotive IoT solution

Kaa is an impressive IoT platform that allows users to connect their fleet and successfully manage vehicles. Its main advantage is advanced vehicle telemetry functionality. A dashboard responsible for fleet management can be enhanced by including more graphical widgets. Rich customization capabilities mean that business owners can connect any IoT devices and thus streamline processes.

This end-to-end platform supports integration with GPS trackers and sensors — any types of automotive equipment relevant for successful operation and enhanced user experience. Kaa’s open APIs allow users to link it to other efficient vehicle and delivery management, cargo tracking, and analytics solutions. On the Kaa platform, you can even implement your own features.

Kaa’s potential is really vast. It gives fleet operators, car-sharing providers, and other market players all the relevant IoT functionality, from tracking connected cars to data analytics and automation. It connects all devices and applications and thus functions as an orchestration platform. You can not only manage the vehicles themselves but also optimize and update the software that these cars run on. Kaa’s capacities include remote software updates, A/B tests, event monitoring, and creating automation rules.

Source: kaaiot.com

HQSoftware multisensor network management solution

A company manufacturing measurement and test systems for the automotive industry approached HQSoftware to develop network management software. Its primary function is collecting data from multiple smart sensors attached to cars and car components with subsequent processing of them in a simulated road-driving environment. This allows end-users to automate testing and thus make it more efficient.

The software solution allows monitoring data from sensors in real time, logging important events (for example, a sensor surpassing an established threshold or switching on/off), individual configuring settings for each device, accessing the cloud services, scheduling automatic updates, and handling user manuals on the web.

As a result, the system deals with a variety of sensors from test cars in a simulated yet highly realistic environment. The data is thoroughly collected, processed, and visualized. It is kept on central cloud storage and transformed into illustrative graphs. All of this allows automotive businesses to reduce testing costs, which is especially relevant for cars with complex designs.

Source: hqsoftwarelab.com

AWS IoT solution for connected cars

AWS is one of the global cloud computing providers. The world-famous Amazon subsidiary cooperates with leading car manufacturers and assists them in developing serverless IoT apps for data collection, analysis, and processing. For that, they don’t need to take care of any infrastructure. Amazon’s clients can connect their cars and devices directly to the AWS Cloud. Vehicle connectivity is securely protected.

The solution allows users to address numerous issues. With its help, voice interaction, media streaming, location-based services, remote car diagnostics, health monitoring, and other services are easy to perform. AWS pays special attention to safety and security. Users can extend the existing functionality with specific features.

This IoT solution is integrated with other AWS services (Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics, AWS Lambda, and Amazon Simple Notification Service, among others). Some of them are responsible for anomaly detection, others deal with trip data, driver safety scores, location-based marketing, etc.

Source: amazon.com

Volvo On Call (VOC) service

VOC is another example of successful IoT implementation in the automotive industry. It was created by Telenor Connexion on request from Volvo Cars. This solution includes an app and a subscription service allowing Volvo owners to stay in touch with their cars equipped with SIM cards. Currently, the fleet has access to the Internet via 3G and 4G mobile networks. Users can control and check their vehicles remotely. For example, a person can warm up their car while being at home, without the need to go outside. With the help of embedded roadside assistance services, customers can get help in case of an emergency. Volvo Cars collects diagnostics data and offers relevant services and important tune-ups to its clients.

If a user has several Volvo cars, they can connect them all to the VOC service and easily switch between them.

The service initially developed for Swedish users is now available in different countries of the world. It is rapidly gaining popularity for its safety, comfort, and ease of use. In case you experience disruptions with VOC, try reinstalling the app.

Source: volvocars.com

Conclusion

With cutting-edge IoT solutions, car owners can manage their vehicles more efficiently. By investing in IoT software, automotive companies not only help end-users to improve their interaction with vehicles but also gain profit. If your business needs a profitable IoT app, you should find a reliable automotive software development company experienced in building IoT solutions.

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