Opinion The cars we drive today are very different to the first models introduced in the late 1800s. Every aspect of the driving experience has evolved, innovating to meet customer needs, industry standards and to ensure passenger safety. Our new cars now offer voice assistants, can be fuelled by electric power, and typically include satellite navigation and collision detection as standard.

It’s time for the next stage of innovation, which will make the cars of the future very different to the ones we have today. this phase includes the introduction of autonomous and connected cars, which are integrated with the public cloud.

As we embark on this period of cloud-based automotive development, data security and privacy must be at the heart of everything we do. Car manufacturers will collect more and more data about us through cloud applications, just as the mobile phone providers do, the question will be: who controls that data? More to the point, who has access to that data? After all, our cars could tell a hacker where we live, where we work, the route we take and when and where we shop…

Consumers, governments and businesses alike are all waking up to the importance of secure, private data usage, so car manufacturers have an opportunity to build compliance in from the get-go.

Key challenges for automotive manufacturers creating connected cars are extracting the huge amount of data from the multitude of sensors on modern-day vehicles, augmenting that data for additional value, anonymising it for GDPR compliance, storing it and presenting it in a format that data scientists can analyse. Public cloud is an ideal solution, providing flexibility, scale, agility and security.

Data-driven cars

As the now-famous quote says, “data is the new oil.” It’s valuable, but if unrefined it cannot be used –the autonomous vehicle must be fed by structured data.

So what if all this data that is now collectable from our connected cars? Off-car analysis for the manufacturer’s gain is one thing, but how could this be put to good use to input into an intelligent city transport system, for example?  Will Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, VW, JLR all share the data from their connected cars for the greater good of a more intelligent public-use transport system? Only time will tell.

It’s an exciting time for the automotive industry. The basic design of a car hasn’t changed for decades, but it’s now time for the industry to evolve at speed. Of course, there will always be concerns over privacy risks. It’s vital that the industry takes these concerns seriously and puts security at the heart of evolution.

There’s a real opportunity for all vehicle manufacturers to improve their customer experiences through data-driven cars. Not only can these cars help travel experiences through integrated car and traffic management solutions, but they can additionally benefit society through reduced pollution.

The first car models from the 1800s seem basic to modern consumers, and it’s exciting to think that today’s electric, voice-assisted vehicles may spur the same reaction in the future. 

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.