What is the next most important technology? I think many people will blurt out: artificial intelligence, VR, autonomous driving.
But if we compare these three horizontally, the application of artificial intelligence has been quite extensive, and even the underlying ecology has been perfected; VR is visible and tangible, with glasses costing more than ten dollars to expensive ones. With the all-in-one machine, consumers can take out their wallets as long as they want.
However, what about driverless cars?
No matter how much we praise the future prospects of this technology, no matter how big domestic and foreign giants bet on building cars, it is still too far away for autonomous driving to be officially put on the road in China and into the hands of consumers.
Recently, I have been thinking that if the "balloon" of autonomous driving, which sounds infinitely beautiful, is now placed in front of public opinion and capital, will it hide the breakthroughs in other automotive technologies and automotive Internet? stand up. Let everyone drool when looking at the big cake in the self-driving brochure, but forget about the egg tarts already baked in the oven?
In general, cars are a gradual and long-term development process on the three roads of unmanned, networked and new energy, which will create a lot of opportunities. And driverless driving is not a sudden achievement, but the accumulation of many technologies, applications, and hardware.
There are a lot of application opportunities in the transition from mobile phone control of cars to in-vehicle networks
The concept of "Internet cars" is no longer new in 2016. Analyzing various Internet car models, one thing is common, which is to connect the car itself to the Internet and conduct human-computer interaction through on-board screens, on-board sensors, and on-board cameras.
From map navigation to payment, to downloading and playing content such as weather, traffic inquiries, music, etc., these control elements that were originally completed by mobile phones are now being realized by the car itself.
This change seems to be just an evolution of the carrier, but in fact it contains many possibilities, especially for the needs of in-vehicle network applications.
For example, the car scene application of mobile phones can only release content and information. The Internet of Vehicles can control various hardware ports of the car, and the number of instruction steps that can be conveyed will also increase accordingly. The content release end of the car screen system and audio system is also far more complex than that of mobile phones, and the required applications will be more diverse.
On the other hand, the car certification and identification system brought by the Internet of Vehicles, as well as the corresponding payment, content acquisition, and personalized solutions, have large application space. After cars are widely connected to the Internet, each car is essentially a consumer and payment source. There are many value provision and business conversion models for this scenario.
In addition, services and business models based on Internet of Vehicles users are also a possibility. Car O2O, car group purchasing, and even car socialization solutions are not difficult to implement.
In short, although the automotive network cannot bring huge user base dividends like the transformation of PC into mobile, it is not difficult to provide value support for some adaptive applications.
Between autonomous driving and driverless driving, auxiliary technology and related hardware are urgently needed
Observing the automotive entrepreneurial space in the United States and Israel, you will find such an interesting phenomenon: many small teams do not It does not build cars, but provides a variety of vertical technologies and related hardware.
The main products and technologies provided by such small teams are concentrated in the middle ground from autonomous driving and assisted driving to completely driverless driving.
Autonomous driving is a system integration that can make 100% correct judgments on various road conditions and driving environments, and is by no means a single technology. Therefore, from the autonomous driving that Tesla and other cars have put into use now, to the end of driverless driving, it requires the accumulation of millions of technologies.
For example, Israel’s Mobileye is researching driverless cars together with Intel and BMW, but its most important technology is focused on the vehicle’s uphill and downhill scenarios. It has produced products including automatic uphill and downhill, automatic A series of intelligent solutions such as speed control and automatic overtaking.
In the field of assisted driving and intelligent driving, there must be a large number of algorithms and intelligent interaction technologies to promote overall upgrades. This leaves a lot of room for entrepreneurs.
And as intelligent driving technology continues to advance, the required intelligent hardware is also increasing. Smart brake pads, smart oil control, and even windshields to help complete autonomous driving are all rigid needs in the future.
Occupying the high ground of these industries through technology patents is actually a huge opportunity.
***Identity adaptation and intelligent personalization of shared travel are also worth thinking about
In the development of new energy and intelligent vehicles, another issue is also the focus of the industry. That is ***enjoy travel.
But unlike car rental, a completely private car can solve the family's daily travel needs. The requirements for vehicles, user needs, and business operation models have all undergone tremendous changes. Of course, there are many derivative opportunities.
For example, how to solve the identity adaptation problem of car sharing, and try to minimize the human investment in the car sharing system while ensuring the use of high-value products such as cars, is a good idea opportunities.
***The popularity of shared bicycles has allowed consumers to see the convenience brought by unmanned and intelligent management. So can cars do this? The three issues that need to be solved are: first, how the vehicle can accurately identify the user and complete identity adaptation and credit management; second, how to protect the vehicle from damage and monitor maintenance progress and safety factors; third, how to make it as convenient as possible for consumers. When picking up and parking a car, one of the most important things is the coordination of the electric pile port.
Another problem is that cars are a relatively private product. Each user will have different usage and driving habits. As a public resource, car sharing will be an important innovation if the user can be accurately judged and the system and driving configuration can be adjusted individually.
These areas of car enjoyment require corresponding solutions. At present, there are only a few entrepreneurs in this field, but what about the future?
Starting from drones, turning cars into Transformers
Another new change this year is the rapid increase in various vehicle-mounted equipment. For example, car-mounted drones and action cameras make it possible to take selfies, aerial photography, and even multi-lens live broadcasts with the sound of cars.
Then vehicle-mounted bicycles, vehicle-mounted cookers, and even vehicle-mounted entertainment systems have begun to enter the car-building plan. With the advancement of intelligent driving and automotive Internet, the trend of various "organic messages" hidden in cars should not change. Drones, which are themselves a hot spot for technology consumption, have made a good start for this road of car co-pilot hardware.
Looking at the general trend, driving needs to become more and more intelligent, so humans will spend more and more time bored in cars. Improving the market conversion rate of automobiles through additional hardware and additional functions, especially pan-entertainment functions, is also a pressing need of major car companies.
In this case, there should be a market for in-vehicle hardware outside of cars. At least there is definitely demand among car companies and Internet giants building cars, and it is also a target that capital may focus on.
Conclusion
If we start with new technologies such as autonomous driving, new energy systems, and the Internet of Vehicles, and end with autonomous driving, then in the middle is a journey that spans countless technologies and has experienced a long journey. The bridge of time. Every brick on this bridge is an opportunity. Don’t forget the “food and vegetables” that are so close because of the unmanned distance.