A majority of US drivers are willing to pay as much as US$1,499 to have high-tech entertainment and safety devices in their vehicles as consumers demand more connectivity, according to a Harris Poll.
Back-up cameras, USB ports and smartphone charging are among the top desires, according to the online survey of 1,033 vehicle owners done for researcher AutoTrader.com. About 55 percent said music streaming services such as those of Pandora Media Inc and Spotify Ltd make driving more enjoyable.
Advanced auto technologies will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show opening in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, including self-driving cars, dashboards covered in curved touch screens and vehicles controlled by smartwatches. Automakers and suppliers are seeking a piece of the US$11.3 billion in factory-installed technologies going into cars this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
Photo: Bloomberg/ Paul Morris
“Consumer electronics are quickly becoming a spectacle in the automotive industry,” Michelle Krebs, an analyst for AutoTrader, said in a statement today. “Consumers are spending more time and money on car technology and they are particular about what they’re buying.”
If automakers come up with smart technology that’s easy to use, 51 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay as much as US$1,499 for it. Half also said they would wait about a year to get a car with the advanced features they want.
SELLING POINT
In-vehicle technology is the top selling point for 39 percent of auto buyers, compared to the 14 percent who care most about horsepower and handling, according to a survey from consulting firm Accenture Plc. Internet-connected cars worldwide will grow more than fourfold to 152 million by 2020 from 36 million now, according to researcher IHS Automotive.
The AutoTrader survey, conducted in October, also found that while only 3 percent of vehicle owners have Wi-Fi in their cars, almost two-thirds of those use it daily. About 48 percent of respondents expressed a desire for in-vehicle Wi-Fi. And 52 percent said automakers should invest to improve information and entertainment systems, rather than rely on better integrating smartphone functions into dashboard touch screens.
“We’re in the information era and shoppers are informed and they are adamant about the features they want,” Krebs said. “From manufacturers to suppliers and even aftermarket consumer electronics companies, this study shows us that there is still plenty of opportunity in the vehicle electronics market.”
QUALCOMM CONCEPTS
Qualcomm Inc today showed high-speed Internet access technology in a 2015 Maserati Quattroporte GTS and a 2015 Cadillac XTS. The concept cars, using Qualcomm’s latest processors, demonstrate how services found on smartphones and tablets are making their way into vehicles.
The Cadillac concept uses Google Inc’s Android operating system in dashboard touch screens with graphics that display navigation, music and live streaming of sports, news and entertainment. The Maserati concept has BlackBerry Ltd’s QNX operating system in rear-seat entertainment systems with touch screens that have tablet-like swipe-and-pinch controls and voice recognition, Qualcomm said in a statement.
FCA US, formerly Chrysler Group, today said it’s adding services on its Uconnect dashboard infotainment system that help drivers find a car in a parking lot, provide navigation destinations to vehicles remotely and automatically send e-mails on a car or truck’s mechanical health. FCA said it also redesigned the Uconnect Access app to make it function faster and more intuitively.
RECORD EXHIBITORS
A record 10 automakers are showing their wares at CES on an exhibit space the size of three football fields. Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields and Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche will deliver keynote speeches at the convention.
The amount of exhibit space at CES dedicated to vehicle technologies has almost doubled during the last five years to 165,000 square feet (15,000 square meters), according to Tara Dunion, a spokeswoman for the show.
Almost one-third of US households now own a vehicle that has an electronic infotainment system, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s