4

Study says consumers want connected cars

Parks Associates CES 2016 carsIf you connect it, they will listen.

Parks Associates finds that 64% of car owners in U.S. broadband households want to have at least one connected activity available in their next vehicle. Parks is presenting sessions about connected cars at CES 2016, but highlighted some expected trends ahead of the event. First, the company projects that car manufacturers would be embracing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto this year. It also anticipates that privacy will remain a key concern about the car technologies until they become more universal.

These findings are a marked consumer endorsement of the connected car model. Even though the study found music access wasn’t the top desire of those respondents, a switch toward digital dashboards will make those audio apps more accessible and visible. If a driver is already using their phone or a connected dashboard in order to access navigation tools – which was the top demanded feature in Parks’ study – they might be more likely to centralize all of their in-car activities on that same device. With more than 40 million connected cars already on U.S. roads as of the end of 2015, that shift is happening and happening at a rapid clip.

And interest in connectivity has been rising. AT&T and Ericsson conducted international studies in 2014 and 2015. Comparing the results shows high and rising awareness of connected car features, as well as increased willingness among respondents to switch brands in order to obtain desired connectivity features.

Anna Washenko

4 Comments

  1. For what? Your only choices will be the canned corporate radio you already here in your local market provided by I-heart.

    • That seems clearly untrue. Doesn’t an app-based digital dashboard with in-car connectivity guarantee more choice? (Including radio for those who love it.)

    • In the digital screens in cars now, iHeartRadio sits alongside Spotify, Pandora, other music services. And over-the-air radio is somewhere.

  2. My point is that with the 2016-2020 CRB rates, the only stations left will be those programmed from Iheart. Which is, of course, by design because they paid off the judges!

Comments are closed.