Car connectivity to drive future

Young users increasingly open to smart vehicle options

How should we refer to car connectivity? At first, it was known as "telematics", a weird nomenclature created by the IT industry through the combination of telecommunications plus informatics. It embraced communication between drivers and the call centers of the original equipment manufacturers (or third parties) to obtain services or assistance, such as real-time traffic information, roadside rescue, and car diagnostics. Importantly, car owners needed to pay annual fees of 500 yuan ($77) to 1,200 yuan for such services.

Early this decade, "connected cars" became the term of choice, as it referred to not only the functions of telematics, but also V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) or V2X (vehicle-to-infrastructure) functions, aimed at a better driving safety and better traffic flows.