Turn on and Plug in: The Evolution of Connected Cars

• CONNECTED CARS ARE EVOLVING INTO A $12.7 BILLION MARKET, WITH A FOCUS ON BUSINESS CUSTOMERS
As recently as the mid-2000s, the concept of a connected car was limited to maps and music. Now, as we begin a new decade, the market for hardware and software systems inside these connected vehicles is expected to reach $12.7 billion by 2030, according to a new report from Lux Research.

The report, “Key Players and Business Models in the Connected Car,” examines the complex ecosystem of connected car players and helps clients navigate the opportunities and challenges on the road ahead.

“The connected car marketplace – and the opportunities surrounding it – has changed significantly since its hyper consumer- and leisure-focused infancy,” said Josh Kern, Analyst at Lux Research and the report’s lead author. “Cellular connectivity, cloud management, data access, and data analytics make up the key pillars of the next frontier. Just as smartphone app developers learned to use advertisements to supplement revenue from app users, connected car services need to find revenue sources other than drivers themselves.”

While Lux anticipates the global market for connective technologies inside of cars to reach almost $13 billion by 2030, it is likely that the market cap will grow even higher due to increased investment in outside-the-car technologies, such as cloud computing and connected infrastructure.

In advance of this growth in market share, the commercialization of connected car technologies has already begun in earnest. The Lux Tech Signal indicates that innovation interest in connected cars is more than double the average of the 2,500 technologies that Lux tracks. The influx of activity surrounds 5G capability, vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X), and driverless cars.