Connecting leaders in Internet of Things

Global Semiconductor and Electronics Forum 2017

Connecting leaders in Internet of Things – this is still very much the hot topic in consumer electronics and automotives. 

We had Samsung Electronics open the forum for us with a frank admission that profitability has yet to be seen from IoT, but it is early days in adoption. 

Dell shared the important role data scientists played and it is efficiency, safety and customer satisfaction that are the crucial factors driving IoT. This is essential for businesses to bring IT and operational technology to make it work. They also outlined the exponential growth of IoT and data will lead to the network infrastructure unable to cope with the current progress in the cloud even with the declining cost of data analytics, but you can sell data to other companies to profit. Ultimately it is cloud security that is the biggest concern for businesses.

We also heard from start-up wearables company, Misfit sharing the wearables 2.0 evolution beyond being the current health tracker with their goal to create elegant, customisable products and they’ve survived by doing more with less and procuring brand partnerships that have allowed them global recognition.

Whirlpool outlined their vision for the connected home and the move towards super intelligence, they see emotional interaction – human elements are added to technology.

On the automotives side, we had Qoros Auto explain the level of connectivity already offered in their cars where every 15 seconds data is uploaded to their cloud and telematics relies upon constant user engagement to provide them with different services. 60% of the value from the bought car comes from services. To Qoros, innovation needs speed, but you need to think about the design and architecture from day 1. They’re building a Qoros car community based on social, ecommerce, loyalty and fun, tapping into the 570 million active users on WeChat who can share their location for geo-targeted marketing.

However, how can you benchmark connectivity in the car? There are no industry benchmarks. So is it lifetime of services or profitability of services that companies need to focus on?

PSA Peugeot Citroën was telling us China is launching a user based insurance in 2017 in 6 cities as a pilot which will further propel the car sharing market. The car will just become another device in the IoT world for data collection. They expect cars to be fully automated by 2020 and be self-driving by 2025. The transition would see the car as a service rather than ownership. This is in line with the rise of the shared economy for pay-per-use services. Maps and navigation is a strategic resource for the autonomous car market. Tesla, the leader in connected cars, built the battery and infotainment first and is the inspiration for the industry especially as a start-up. SAIC-Alibaba have followed a similar route with AliOS in the cars, keeping customers in their ecosystem to push content.

OEMs are shifting to be more mobile, for example PSA is used for car sharing in Berlin and France and will launch in China in 2-3 years. The mindset is changing as the industry is disrupted by the internet players. They’re investing in developers, but this needs to be done cost effectively as apps are updated daily, devices change every 6 months but cars are built to last.

IoT can be seen as a risk to the automotive industry if you don’t reinvent yourselves. OEMs can only survive by using data effectively and not be just a hardware supplier.

You need to be agile, investing in start-ups because if you don’t disrupt yourself today, you’re going to be disrupted tomorrow. These disruptions are coming so OEMs are creating brands to manage that so that the value is transferred from the hardware to software.

Data ownership is still the big question but this is dependent on the contract and the location so in China for example all data is monitored by the Government. Who pays for the data? This depends on the apps that the automotive companies benefits from.

Industry standards are the biggest challenge as consumers don’t want to buy and understand all the different standards – they just want everything integrated.

BMW debated the responsibility model when it came to autonomous cars; they’re working with Baidu in China to test the autonomous car in Shanghai and advises partnerships with local Chinese internet companies to navigate the different ecosystem and legal system.

To end the day, we had GE look at what IoT meant on an industrial scale from digital wind farms to software defined machines, but ultimately industrial data storage is required.

As IoT develops, questions over standards and security will need to be answered and for 2017 this will be top of the agenda, but are there any other critical issues you want covered?