Data, voice drive different connected-car markets
Karthikeyan (Karthik) Natarajan, senior vice president and global head of the company’s Integrated Engineering Solutions group, said in an interview that western markets "behave completely differently" from emerging markets.
Mahindra Satyam works with automotive makers and telco providers to build out the infrastructure for connected cars and trucks, and so Natarajan ( pictured nearby) has a unique perspective on design engineering challenges.
"It’s not just price point but utility of what you’re trying to connect," he said.
Even in more established markets like Europe and North Amerca, the engineering objectives can diverge, he said. North American auto makers are still focused on the front end of the connected car experience, whereas European automakers are very interested in the back end.
"Assume you are connected, what data do you transfer? Is the back-end system ready for rapid ramp of cars sales?" Natarajan said.
Western markets are moving into connected-car systems that integrate vehicle disagonistics, the health and awareness of the driver, and preventing (and in some cases predicting) accidents.
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"If western markets are driven by data, emerging markets driven by voice," Natarajan said. There, it’s a cost challenge but also a utility issue. Much driving doesn’t doesn’t get above 60 kmph in emerging markets. "What is the biggest thing they want? Voice technology." This is putting a premium on speech-to-text technology, he added.
In the west, some integrated services will begin to emerge, such as health care and diagnostics. "The cloud will play a much bigger role… with a lot of predictive analytics and big data," Natarajan said.
Who’s driving the designs? "The tier ones are smart (but) regional players will spark this faster than other companies," he said, noting that two of the five Indian automotive OEMs have stopped putting CD players in their vehicles, opting instead to leverage smart phones and other connected devices.
"Innovation is at a certain cost. These are very, very price-sensitive consumers," Natarajan said.
Natarajan’s comments came after Mahindra Satyam in September launched the first phase of its "Connected Vehicle Concept" project that, using MirrorLink technology, allows users to connect smart phones to their vehicles and then leverage phone applications, such as navigation, through the car.
Phase two of the project, slated for March 2013, will add cloud services with an integrated app store, voice recognition and text to speech. And phase three R&D is focusing on gesture recognition, medical gateway and smart grid gateway concepts, Natarajan said.
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