The connected car ecosystem is rapidly evolving as a result of the dominant industry trend to leverage software-defined cars to provide cloud-based services that are indirectly related to driving itself and more concerned with the overall vehicle occupant experience. This trend within the automobile infotainment market includes auto OEMs developing their own application platforms that integrate with third-party app development for in-vehicle infotainment systems.
The automobile infotainment market consists of emerging systems as diverse services including navigation system, premium audio and video systems, in-vehicle advertising, commerce, and smart mobility services such as travel, hotel, flight and train, robo-taxi, ride-sharing/rental, health and education services, and content including video, music, and movies. Various suppliers within the automotive value chain, such as telematics providers and aftermarket service providers, are contributing to develop the SDC ecosystem. This ecosystem is the foundation for in-vehicle entertainment.
One of the biggest growth impediments for the automobile infotainment market currently is usability. Many of the build-in systems are surprisingly not as user-friendly as expected. In contrast, some of the aftermarket systems with simple to understand and use features/functionality are gaining greater traction with consumers. The user interface type is an important factor with most people preferring touch-screens over rotary controls.
The easy touch-and-go nature is important for consumer safety (less distraction) and satisfaction through improved application navigation. Another important factor that we have identified is smartphone-to-vehicle integration. Consumers want a seamless in-vehicle experience with apps easily transferable from phone to car and vice versa. For this reason, we give the edge to Apple and Google for their CarPlay and AndroidAuto respectively.
The in-vehicle automobile infotainment market is going to become a $77.1 billion opportunity by 2026. Building driver-centric infotainment systems instead of vehicle-centric ecosystems will be one of the key success factors through 2030. Infotainment services enable new revenue streams that are less dependent on automotive production cycles and provide consistent revenue with up to five times higher margins than the current post-sale services. Many automotive manufacturers have installed third-party infotainment systems, which is a trend that is anticipated to accelerate as vehicle sales decline, placing greater reliance on post-sale services.
