megatrends

Always on, always connected:
Megatrends
M2M comes to the auto industry
Automotive OEMs see machine to machine (M2M) technology as a way of generating revenue and
differentiating themselves from their competition. Myriad business opportunities exist, from consumer
infotainment to traffic management, safety and security. Megatrends talks to Vodafone, which is
anticipating significant growth in its M2M business
Martin Kahl
The concept of ‘always on, always connected’
is becoming a reality. As the global ownership
of mobile devices grows, so too does the
number of business opportunities. Worldwide,
Vodafone expects the number of people
connected to grow to three billion over the
next three years.
Within this, a key growth area for Vodafone is
machine to machine (M2M). Vodafone’s M2M
operations sit within its Enterprise division,
which represents 24% of the company’s
overall global revenue, and Vodafone is
expecting its M2M business to continue to
grow significantly. The company currently has
around 400 million consumer hand-held
connections globally, and 8.8 million M2M
connections - it is expecting the latter to
grow rapidly, driven largely by the automotive
industry, domestic and industrial smart
metering and health industry applications, as
companies seek new ways to meet regulations,
reduce costs and increase efficiency.
In terms of where in the world M2M growth
can be expected, Tony Guerion, Head of
Machine to Machine at Vodafone Group
Services, told Megatrends that “Asia will grow
quite significantly over the next three or four
years due to the availability of mobile”. So too
will “the Americas, including South America,
where growth will be at the same pace as
Europe, roughly 28-30%.
“The question is no longer, ‘what can
technology do?’ Now it’s 'how can we use that
to gain a business advantage?’ The evolution of
M2M is going to accelerate dramatically over
the next 18-24 months, and there are a few
reasons for that. The first is regulatory, and
varies from region to region. The EU is
aggressively driving the adoption of M2M,
including smart metering in homes, and eCall,
Q1 2013
so that if a car
is involved in a
crash, the
emergency
services are
alerted. We
don’t know
whether the
regulation will
be introduced
in 2015 or
2016, but what
is certain is
that everybody
in the industry
is talking about it and starting to implement
it.”
Automotive OEMs see M2M as a way of
generating revenue and differentiating
themselves from their competition, be that
through infotainment, different or additional
telematics services, or billing the customer
slightly differently. Myriad business
opportunities exist, in areas such as consumer
infotainment, traffic management, safety,
security and eCall. Vodafone is also working
with the insurance industry on usage-based
car insurance related to when drivers use
their cars, and their driving pattern.
Speaking to Automotive World at Automotive
Megatrends India 2012, held in Chennai in
September, Hitoshi Ono, Global Business
Development Manager - Automotive at
Vodafone, said, “We have a very large interest
in the automotive industry from a telematics
perspective, and Vodafone is creating unique
services, infrastructures and products to
support this.”
There are two ways of delivering automotive
telematics applications, explained Ono. “The
first is the mobile phone unit connecting to
the head unit, called tethering. And another is
having embedded connectivity in the car.
Vodafone M2M focuses on the latter.”
A number of opportunities exist for providers
of automotive M2M technology, “for example,
safety and security, and infotainment,” said
Ono. “Then there are peripheral services like
customer retention-focused applications,
customer acquisition-focused application, and
data reapplication. There are multiple streams
that arise from telematics applications today
that we are starting to realise. We are first
trying to provide basic managed connectivity
that is completely unique to OEM
requirements. We have already built certain
components, like an automotive-grade
machine to machine-dedicated SIM, as well as
the dedicated machine to machine platform.”
The forthcoming Opel Adam is an exercise in
personalisation, with over a million ways for
buyers to individualise their car, and
connectivity will play a key role in that
strategy. Opel says the Adam will be “the most
connected car on the market.” At the 2013
Detroit Auto Show, Ford and GM announced
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