How Car Manufacturers are Using Big Data

Big data is everywhere and used in nearly every type of business. While many people might not be aware of its prevalence, its clear from the way companies are engaging in big data analytics that it is playing a big role in achieving new levels of success.

New technologies used in todays businesses help us to become aware of big data and its value. Examples of this can be seen in storage, pricing, and retailers who use online activity to pinpoint behavioral trends in marketing campaigns that can be greatly improved. Other uses for big data can be found in utilities, where they can predict outages through energy levels used enabling energy consumption to become more efficient; and by Google and government institutions, who use Big Data to track and detect outbreaks of disease through signals in social media.

But it isnt just the web and utility companies that use big data; car manufacturers have also been using it on the outside and inside of the vehicle, thus enabling them to improve vehicle quality, enrich the service and driving experience, and enhance safety.

The wonderful thing about cars is that they are a wealth of information, accumulating data taken from the driver, the actual car itself, the surroundings, and any devices that may be connected. In fact, a single hybrid plug-in vehicle will generate data up to 25 gigabytes, and thats just in an hour.

Telematics information has been captured by car manufacturers for many years, but a much more sophisticated method is being adopted, and it has everything to do with analytics and big data. With this in mind, technology is now able to alert a driver when a road conditions are hazardous by automatically activating anti-lock brakes and other systems that deal with traction control in vehicles that are nearby.

Other car manufacturers, including BMW, are using big data analytics platforms, combining analyzed data of prototypes that have been tested numerous times, with the vehicles recording error memories of approximately 15,000, plus customer reports that identify weaknesses in new models so they can be eliminated without them actually going into production. Now instead of data evaluation taking months to finish, error rates and costs are reduced, enabling the analyses of the results to be put back into the working processes of BMW.

Along with big data, the connected car is now becoming increasingly popular, with the connected car market predicted to reach $130 billion by 2019, which is no surprise when you see just how quickly car manufacturers are now approving the technology which will be embedded into their vehicles.

Other innovations will be used in connected cars, enabling car manufacturers to capitalize on their newest vehicles by bringing in telematics. Route monitoring will alert drivers about traffic problems and re-routing based on the volume of traffic. Weather alerts will warn drivers of potential hazards such as black ice, drowsiness, and potholes, all in order to keep the driver safe and alert. All of these innovations are available today and all because of big data analytics.

Making drivers and driving safer, greener, and smarter is just the market response, since customers in general love to embrace new technologies that make their lives easier. Therefore connected cars are a natural progression as more people want to decrease the amount of time they spend on daily commuting, integrate smartphones with vehicles and even improve the information on road traffic through big data.

Although collecting vehicle information isnt new, applying that information to already accumulated knowledge about the operating surroundings of the vehicle at any given moment is innovative. At the same time, connecting data from devices or vehicles are now enabling data to be generated at an incredible volume and velocity. And as car manufacturers adopt other technologies that allow them to use big data, like flash storage, more capabilities will be developed in the future.

Big data provides car manufacturers with crucial insight into vehicle systems and how they perform under certain conditions within the environment and certain driving patterns. This then helps car manufacturers to improve many of the problems that the driver may end up encountering. The end result is a driving experience that is vastly improved.