North America Connected Car Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The North American connected car market is poised to register a CAGR of over 25 % during the forecast period (2020 - 2025).

Key Highlights

• In the current scenario, safety is a key component in the vehicle for buyers and manufacturers. The conventional mechanical linkages are replaced by more sensors, cameras, and other electronics that enable the car to communicate and use all the data for developing the safest vehicles.
• Integration between mobile devices and vehicles has provided a huge boost to enhance vehicle connectivity, navigation, communication, and entertainment features. With the growing demand for improved in-built vehicle software, instruments and infotainment systems have been upgraded with advanced features. This has driven many technology companies to enter the automotive industry.
• The US government is collaborating with various industry players to advance connected vehicle infrastructure. For instance, in 2018, the Federal Communications Commission released the 5G FAST Plan, in which, one of the key components is to provide high-speed communications that may support Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) environment data transfer.

Key Market Trends

Software Advancements Driving the Market

Connected cars are the result of a partnership of different sectors that were previously not involved in the automotive industry, as vehicles are becoming more software governed. Over the past two years, the involvement of software giants and electronics companies had been increasing significantly in the automotive industry towards the growing connected vehicles trend.

For instance, the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform includes its edge technology, cloud infrastructure, AI, and IoT services, along with regulatory compliance with Microsoft Azure. It supports vehicle manufacturers to provide safety, comfort, and connected driving experiences to customers. Moreover, in January 2020, Luxoft announced its plans to expand its partnership with Microsoft for connected vehicle solutions. With this technology development strategy, the software engineering firm, Luxoft, aims to develop new features, such as advanced diagnostics, remote repair, and preventive maintenance. Similarly, in 2019, Otonomo partnered with Microsoft for connected vehicle technologies.

In 2018, Hyundai and Cisco entered a partnership to develop hyper-connected cars. This collaboration created a software-defined vehicle platform that provides enhanced security and networking.

Growing Electric Vehicles Witnessing Market Demand

Globally, trends, like autonomous driving, connectivity, and electrification in vehicles, are driving the automotive industry. For electrification to get into the mainstream, there should be connectivity between charging infrastructure and electric vehicles. Connectivity helps the EV owner to get important information, such as location and availability of charging stations, battery monitoring, and smart charging. For instance, in 2019, Ford launched North America’s largest electric vehicle public charging network, Ford Connected Charge Station. It comes with many connectivity features, and the network includes more than 12,000 charging stations, with nearly 35,000 plugs.

Similarly, EV Connect, a cloud-based software company for electric vehicle charging stations, joined hands with DTE Energy to fund EV charging infrastructure in Michigan. Under this partnership, they aim to add around 1,000 charge ports in the state of Michigan.

Currently, electric vehicles have a nearly 2% share in the total US car fleet. With the active participation of industry players and government organizations in EV industry development, the growth of electric vehicle adoption is expected to improve in the future. Vehicle manufacturers are launching new electric models with connection and bandwidth capabilities, in order to handle consumers' new demands.

For instance, in 2019, Volvo launched its electric XC40 Recharge in Los Angeles. It comes with a range of nearly 200 miles and has a new infotainment system built on Google’s embedded android automotive software.

Competitive Landscape

The North American connected car market is dominated by major players, like General Motors, BMW AG, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen AG. The companies are making partnerships for developing more advanced technologies and staying ahead in the competition, as OEMs have started offering connected car features in their new models. For instance,

• In 2019, Ford Motor Company and Transportation Mobility Cloud Autonomic signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS). After this agreement, the Ford vehicles are expected to come with Autonomic’s TMC automotive cloud as a standard.
• In 2019, Volvo selected Ericsson Connected Vehicle Cloud (CVC) platform for its connected cars for the next five years. This platform provides automation, fleet management, telematics, navigation, and infotainment.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support