The automotive industry worldwide has joined hands in pushing the technological envelopes in electric and AI-driven vehicles such as autonomous driving.
China is expected to lead the global connected car sales followed by the US, India, Japan, and Germany. India is expected to have the fastest growth in connected car sales between 2023 and 2030, according to Counterpoint, a global technology research firm.
The next demand from the Indian customers is the V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) technology. A bidirectional technology that helps both the vehicle and its surroundings. As the name suggests, the vehicle incorporates advanced software/technologies such as sensors, cameras, and wireless connectivity (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/5G cellular technology, and others) to guide the driver from its surroundings.
West vs. India
For experiencing V2X technology at a large scale in India, people will have to wait for a few more years as per industry experts. Ashwin Ramachandra, Head of Digital Services Practice, Transportation Business, Tata Elxsi, told ETAuto that India is on its way to adapting V2X technology in 3-4 years. The West already has V2X technology in vehicles. India is behind the West for many reasons.
“What we don't have to adopt V2X technology is the infrastructure from the government, which will certainly take some time,” Manish Patel, CIO, JSW MG Motor India, said. According to Ramachandra, technological advancements like OTA (Over The Air) updates with V2X technology can be found in the Western countries, but in India it is yet to pick up.
In line with the global trends, Indian automakers are trying to be at par with their foreign counterparts to provide better digital offerings for consumers. Patel said, “We are equally in line with what the Western countries offer from a connected car perspective. I think technology has matured far faster in our country than in the West.”
Roadblocks
If India wants to be a connected vehicle country with effective communication in its surroundings, its infrastructure has to be fully compatible and developed. To create this infrastructure the government and multiple regulatory bodies have to join hands and for this advancement, India has to wait a little more.
About the importance of V2I, Ramachandra said, “India’s infrastructure is a roadblock in making this technology accessible for people. The western countries are having this technology and getting benefits out of it but India is still preparing itself which might take a few years.
Infrastructure
This technology can be seen being utilized by the developed markets like the US, Japan, Europe, and China.
For this, the Indian OEMs have to join hands and have to create an entire consortium deciding to come together and include this as a feature on the roadmap. The government and the individual traffic bodies have to come together to put in India’s infrastructure.
Legislation
India has to set rules and regulations for V2X technology that will determine the adoption rate, cost, and speed. “I would say three to five years is required for this technology to come to India… It's a question of the roadmaps of the Indian OEMs and the sort of the direction in which the regulatory bodies in India will head towards,” Ramachandra said.
V2X will benefit drivers and passengers and will enhance the quality of data that OEMs have. OEMs can increase the productivity and quality of their vehicles by the data collected through V2X technology.
This technology can also aid in reducing road fatalities in the longer run. “With ADAS and V2X technology coming in and being deployed, we can certainly see a drastic reduction in accidents on highways improving the safety scenario of our country”, Patel said.
V2X technology insights
The data collected through connectedness can be utilised by OEMs to track the performance of the vehicle such as fuel consumption regularly, the requirement of services after how many months for daily commuters, and others. This information can help the OEMs to manufacture their vehicles accordingly.
Predictive analysis: Another insight can be about the prediction of possibilities that could occur in the vehicle or predictive analysis, which is based on the information that OEMs get from a vehicle. For example, if an OEM thinks the consumer’s fuel is not good or not clean then it will notify the consumer to go to the closest service station to prevent further inefficiencies. This concept of predictive analytics is very doable based on telemetry.
Trend analysis: Another aspect can be the understanding of the latest trends in the auto industry and the nature of differences or trends in terms of the demands of customers. SDV (software-defined vehicles) trend, now seen in the Western countries, boosts and redefines the architecture of a vehicle.
“SDV revolution is something that we are very cognisant about and we are working on it in a big way. We think it's going to change the landscape in the next three to five years,” Ramachandra said.
Database for fleet owners: The western countries have larger fleets. To keep track of the vehicles and some other information, the fleet owners pay the OEMs in a subscription model. In India, this is still at an infant stage. “I think the fleet aspect is going to become more and more important as we get into India so broadly from connectivity and telematics,” Ramachandra said. These are the broad sort of differences that we see between OEMs in India and those globally, he added.
Multiple aspects of V2X technology
·V2V (Vehicle to vehicle) in which a car is connected with and can share data with another car.
·V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure) where the vehicle can disseminate information between itself and the road infrastructure like road signs and advanced traffic lights.
·V2P (Vehicle to Pedestrian) when a vehicle can connect with pedestrians.
·V2N (Vehicle to Network), where vehicles can exchange data within different network systems like 5G.
However, the infrastructure is yet to be mature enough for India to fully adopt the V2X technology as per industry experts. Though there is V2V and V2N connectivity, V2I and V2P are still not developed.
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