Is the rise of connected car technology offered by different auto manufacturers, practical or not?

Connected car technology: India’s automotive industry has evolved over decades with technological advancements and enhanced manufacturing facilities. With the arrival of new manufacturers in the automotive industry, new features like connected car technology, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), etc were offered by the manufacturers to attract consumers to their products. Recently, connected car technology has seen a boom where manufacturers have started offering some great features in this space, which helps to enhance the benefits as well as safety of the vehicle. This area has seen a major focus by different manufacturers to provide almost similar features but there are some pros and cons attached to the connected cars as well. Automobile manufacturers like Kia offer Kia Connect, Mahindra has Adrenox, Tata Motors offers iRA Connect, and MG offers i-Smart.

Subscription costs for connected technology mobile applications:

The Connected technology offered by different manufacturers generally offers a first year or first two years’ subscription for free of cost but post that there are yearly charges for continuing that technology. Different automobile manufacturers have different price charges for the subscription.

Basic features offered in the connected cars:

Automobile manufacturers offer some common features for the connected technology, like the remote start of the engine, remote climate control that helps to pre-cool or heat your car, driving information behaviour, Geofencing, etc.

Pros of connected car technology:

The evolution of connected car technology has both pros and cons attached to it. Most consumers in India opt for the mid-or-the-base variant of the vehicles according to their preferences. The connected car technology is mostly offered in the top-end variants and provides many features. Some of the pros of connected car technology are Geofencing, remote cooling, which helps in summer climates, valet alert, idle alert, etc. The useability of these features in daily life improves the experience with the vehicle as well as keeps the vehicle safe.

Cons of connected car technology:

Since technological advancements are rising and artificial intelligence (AI) is being introduced inside vehicles, there are some cons as well of connected car technology. The software used for mobile applications has a simple user interface. The connected car technology can be misused by the first owners as well after selling off to the second owner if the application data is not formatted again for the new user. Another con of connected cars is when the manufacturers release new updates in software, the vehicle can show a malfunction warning light in the instrument cluster or the infotainment system can show some errors that can affect the user experience.