The Internet of Things (IoT) will connect your car to streaming media, family members, roads, toll booths, smog monitors, transit authorities, other vehicles and pretty much everything else that can be viewed through your windshield. What’s to be gained from all this connectivity? It should ease commute times, improve productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, keep the kiddies in the backseat happy and make many companies a great deal of money. But will it improve the driving experience? Almost certainly, yes.
Cars can no longer be strictly defined as a mechanical device. They are, in fact, giant mobile computers—incorporating driver assistance software, infotainment systems, intelligent sensors and millions of lines of code. Soon, your connected car’s data will be streamed to the cloud, transmitted via telemetry to nearby cars and archived by road commissions. The revolution’s only just getting started. An improved driving experience should incorporate most if not all of the following enhancements: