Connected Vehicle Innovation Spurs Investment in Edge Infrastructure
There are compelling signals that indicate 2024 is going to be a pivotal year for edge computing. A new report from AECC and GSMA Intelligence shows how the automotive industry, and connected vehicle services in particular, play a key role in stimulating investment in edge computing infrastructure.
At the root of this trajectory is the evolution of driving from a human-only activity to a digitally-assisted one. This trend encompasses both passenger cars and commercial vehicle fleets, which are united in their pursuit of better safety, route optimization, and user experiences, although the form that these take will differ. Demand has risen for services such as intelligent driving, vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and especially mobility as a service (MaaS) and HD mapping, which have the greatest ROI potential.
Edge Compute
Coming to a Place Near You
The report predicts significant revenue growth from the implementation of edge computing in connected vehicles over the next three years. About 15% of automakers expect a notable 16-20% increase, paving the way for innovative business models for mobile network operators (MNOs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), cloud providers, and app players. These models will be driven by use cases requiring proximity to end-users to reduce latency to the microsecond range. Notably, 44% of respondents, including mobile operators, IoT service providers, and systems integrators, express interest in conducting use-case analysis through AECC.
Of the 400 survey respondents, 92% see edge computing as extremely important or very important to their B2B sales success.
Innovative Use Cases on the Horizon
The advent of 5G networks is a huge enabler for edge computing, and the increasing use of AI promises to unlock even more applications for connected vehicle services. Some of the exciting use cases include:
- HD mapping to support assisted and automated vehicles.
- Mobility-as-a-service technology for enhanced remote diagnostics.
- Autonomous driving and smart infrastructure.
- Intelligent driving for safer and more efficient driving support.
- V2Cloud Cruise Assist to move information from the vehicle to the cloud.
AECC is Already Engaging in Key Proofs of Concept
AECC has been providing working examples to address a variety of additional use cases in our proof-of-concept (POC) program. Survey respondents in the report identified POC development and testing as the most important step toward scaling up edge computing.
If your organization is interested in helping to shape the future of the global connected vehicle ecosystem, consider joining us.
